


Love is a complicated thing when you're sixteen

by Sad_N_Pink



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: And also at doing summaries, But then it becomes more serious lol, Difficult relationship with parents, Especially for the Blight siblings, Existential Crisis, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hexside Academy of Magic and Demonics, Humor, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lack of Communication, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, Mutual Pining, Personal Growth, Pining, Really Slow Romance, Slow Romance, Some magical adventures, Starts like normal stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26801422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sad_N_Pink/pseuds/Sad_N_Pink
Summary: Veronica Ryder just wants to be a good student at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics for one more semester. Unexpectedly and without knowing it, Emira Blight won't let that happen.OrJust the ''normal'' life of some teenagers in the Boiling Isles.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Edric Blight/Jerbo, Emira Blight/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. An ''ordinary'' beginning of classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting classes in Hexside Academy is something ordinary for Veronica Ryder. However, when a monster appears inside the school, Veronica begins to think that it might not be a regular semester.
> 
> Now add Emira and Edric Blight to the mix.
> 
> What could possibly go wrong with it?

The sky began to clear as the sun rose above the horizon, heralding a new day in the Boiling Isles. With that, the light started to filter through her bedroom window, but Veronica didn't pay any attention to it as she tried to find her uniform. It was monday and the beginning of a new semester at Hexside, but although she had been excited to see her friends again and learn new things, she had completely forgotten about the rest.

Looking at the clock in the wall, Veronica tried not to panic when she realized that she might be late for first time in all her time as a student. She couldn’t have been the best student or a model for others, but she was still afraid of the possible consequences of infringing the school rules. Besides that, she had agreed to meet up with her friends to talk and do other things before classes started officially and they couldn’t be able to be together since they weren’t on the same track.

A minutes after, when she found her cyan shirt and leggings along with the grey tunic on the bottom of a drawer, she almost cried of excitement. She quickly got dressed and tried to do her hair a bit before grabbing her bag and running out of her room in the direction of the door that let outside the house.

‘’Hey! Wasn’t I supposed to take you to school today?’’

After hearing the question, Veronica turned and saw her sister, Lucia, who came out of the kitchen while eating something similar to berries from a bowl. While looking at her with suspicion, she recalled that some days before she had asker her sister to take her to Hexside’s campus on her staff. Veronica sighed, relieved that she had done so. It was definitely more convenient to go flying than walking.

‘’Wait. If you know that, what are you doing standing there like an idiot and not bringing Ratthan?’’ She answered exasperated as she watched her sister take her time to eat.

‘’Well, stop crying, I’m finishing.’’ Lucia said after swallowing the last handful of those berries. ‘’Ratthan, come here!’’ Hearing the call, her rat palisman flew towards her sister as she headed out of the house with her.

‘’Lucia, we must hurry, or I’ll be late and end up being punished’’ Veronica said calmly, trying to hold back her anxiety.

‘’That would be an interesting situation to see’’ Her sister smirked.

‘’Lu!’’

‘’Fine. You’re not going to be late as long as you keep quiet.’’ Her sister assured, sitting down on the staff. ‘’Now you’re going to sit down and shut your mouth, or I won’t hesitate on throwing you off.’’

Veronica nodded as she climbed onto the staff, unsure of the threat her sister made was true or not. She definitely didn’t want to find out.

* * *

While she was flying with her sister, she was in completely silent, just feeling the air brush her face gave her a cold sensation throughout her body and making her fully awake. She saw the scenery in the distance, the forest full of red trees that reached its end at the edges of the lively city of Bonesborough, and the rib bones of the Titan rising far and above her.

She loved the feeling of freedom that seeing all of that gave her. This was Bonesborough, the place where she grew up and where all the things and people she loved where. Her hair was freely lifted by the wind, just like…

Wait.

She stopped smiling, she didn’t know when she had started to do that, but it didn’t matter at the time, not with the fact that she had forgotten something as important as her uniform. Tie her hair.

She felt how the reality make her come out of her reverie and tried to grab all her hair to put it at one side of her head. She saw Hexside Academy a near them and became more nervous. It wasn’t a problem to go to class with dishevelled hair, after all, it wasn’t written in the regulations that students had to appear presentable.

However, her normally straight and visually smooth hair could fool everyone but her, not when Veronica knew how difficult was to brush it at the end of the day.

Anyway, when her sister stopped her staff at a reasonable distance from the entrance, because al least she didn’t want to embarrassed Veronica more than usual by leaving her in front of her friends.

‘’Mouse, until here I come as a transport, remember to make yourself decent,’’ Said Lucia as she evaluated her from head to toe. Veronica blushed as she glared at her sister. ‘’and don’t forget to put your glasses on and buy some food, I don’t want your friends calling me because your blood pressure dropped and you passed out in the middle of a class’’

Veronica held back a groan of frustration as she tightened her fingers around the handle of her bag. She had forgotten about that too, though hopefully she would have her glasses in her bag and some money in her pockets.

* * *

Life never gives you want you want.

She knew it when she realized that there was no money in her clothes or backpack, which meant she would have to starve herself until lunch like the strong-willed person she was, or in any case, start begging her friends for some food as she often did.

At least she had her glasses, thought while speeding up her pace more when she saw her friends at the entrance. She walked through the banners of the nine principal covens as her friends saw her too, stopping their conversation to throw smiles at her or simply doing a spell to catch her attention as she raised her hand to greet them.

‘’We thought you wouldn’t be here on time!’’

‘’Did your parents give you your scroll back? It must be horrible not being able to get into Penstagram.’’

‘’I can’t believe we’re going back to school and we haven’t been able to go out even once during holiday.’’

‘’I’m definitely not giving you any of my food, you jerk.’’

Veronica was greeted by all her friends when she arrived with them, hearing all of them make some comment at the same time, but the last frustrated sigh caught her attention.

‘’Did you practice adivination to find out what would happen to me today? That’s so cute, Jess.’’ She answered with a false tone of sweetness, looking how the tallest of the group, a brunette girl with black curls named Jessira Gardens, rolled her eyes with exasperation.

‘’As if I had time to worry about you.’’ Her friend declared with a mocking smile. ‘’I just have eyes and I can say that, as always, you have forgotten to eat and bring money. You should start taking care of your body, dude. We don’t want to drag your corpse to the infirmary’’

‘’Okay, stop talking about her possible death by starvation, Jess.’’ Calixto O’Mille, a girl with slightly tanned skin with two braids of brown hair, spoke softly. ‘’I’m going to give you some of my food when we arrive to our first class, but she’s right, Vera. You should take care of yourself.’’

‘’This will be the last time, I swear.’’ Said smiling at her before directing her gaze to the only boy in the group. ‘’And in any case, if I passed out, you wouldn’t need to go to the infirmary because we have a healer among us.’’

Eric Schenss, who had horns sticking out of his dyed blue hair and a very pale skin, was giving her a wry smile while he snorted. ‘’I’m good at healing injuries, you should first break a bone before asking me to help you.’’

‘’That’s good enough.’’

‘’Oh guys, stop it. It won’t be funny if it happens in real life.’’

‘’I’m with Calixto in this, especially now when something weird happened in Glandus High.’’ Said Marianne Wood, a short red-haired girl with the uniform of the Potions Track, showing them something her scroll. ‘’

Veronica put her arm around Eric’s shoulders as she put attention on the photo that was posted on Penstagram. In it, there were many students of Glandus High lying on the floor with a sick appearance, just like they have been drained of energy. Such a strange and odd situation.

‘’Someone from Glandus posted it and I thought it was fake for a moment,’’ Told Marianne catching their curiosity as she scrolled the comments. ‘’but look at this, I don’t believe everyone there are involved in a big joke’’

‘’They deserved it.’’ Jessira was the first to come out of her astonishment. ‘’Don’t you think, Vera?’’

‘’I can’t say anything about it, Jess.’’ She answered with a nervous expression. ‘’My parents took my scroll because I called my cousins who are studying there, jerks.’’

‘’Well, is true that most of students in Glandus are totally jerks.’’ The boy giggled, rolling his eyes with amusement.

‘’I have nothing to said about it’’ Calixto muttered with a plain voice. ‘’But I believe that this is a serious matter, it could happen here and we’ll be in their position.’’

‘’They said that they were drained of magic,’’ Mentioned the red-haired girl, frowning with worry. ‘’There’s something odd about it.’’

‘’Let’s forget about it.‘’ Jessira said, running her hand over her curly hair. ‘’It doesn’t worth our time’’

‘’Yeah, it’s better if we go to put our things on the lockers, or we might not be able to be punctual to our first class’’ Eric chuckled for a moment.

‘’If we’re late, I’ll definitely die of anxiety!’’ Veronica exclaimed with a fake melodramatic tone, taking her arms off the boy’s shoulders.

‘’I’ll be happy to see you then’’ Sneered the brunette as she started walking through the entrance door. ‘’Are you coming or not?’’

She, as well as her friends, reached Jessira and headed to their own lockers. While tickling it to have it opened, Veronica thought on what those guys of Glandus High experienced, thinking that it was something really unlucky but not interesting for her.

When her locker stuck out its tongue, she put some of her books that where inside her backpack there and take her notebooks, as well as her pencil case. As it began to close its mouth again, she opened her pencil case, searching for a hair tie.

‘’I knew I would find it here’’ She whispered as she took that thing outside the case.

‘’What are you talking about?’’ Calixto saw her with confusion.

Both girls have been taking her things for their first class, History of Illusions, and none of them had time to chat with the other as they done that. Their friends have left the hall, going to their own classes or just hanging out with other people.

‘’Nothing important, you know. Just that I have find my hair tie.’’ She gave her a bring smile. ‘’Could you carry my books for some seconds?, I’ll tie it now’’

‘’Yeah, sure.’’

As fast as she could, she grabbed her hair and many a quick, low and loose ponytail. ‘’I’m done, how do I look?’’ She asked, pointing at it to make her friend notice it.

‘’You’re as usual.’’ Her friend snorted with fun. ‘’It would be awesome if you let me do other hairstyles with your hair’’

Laughing a little, Veronica answered. ‘’That will never happen.’’

‘’Your loss.’’

‘’Nah, I’m fine with it. Let’s better go to the classroom before the teacher gets in.’’ She said, taking back her own stuff. Calixto nodded, and both headed to their first class.

* * *

‘’Did you know that this year in the Practice of Illusions the teacher is going to teach us how to make resistant clones?’’

Veronica turned to see the brown-haired girl with an expression of intrigue. ‘’Is that true?’’

They were outside the classroom, waiting with all their classmates to the teacher. If what her friend was telling her was true, then it was a pity that the first class was only History of Illusions because she would definitely love to learn more useful topics.

‘’Of course. I heard some rumours about that before, but it seems to be true. This is your time to shine’’ She affirmed with a smile.

‘’Well, I hope so.’’ Replied her with expectation.

She really didn’t think she could be the best of the Illusions track, not when there were people as powerful and naturally talented like the Blight twins, who although skipped most of the classes, always ended up showing amazing results on every exam; but she was pretty good at doing clones.

Maybe she could be the best at doing that in all Hexside, and she was a good student too, so she was good enough to get into a good coven and she even felt that there was a chance to be in the Emperor’s coven if she tried a little, thought Veronica, knowing that inside her heart, she was a bit envious of the magic Emira and Edric Blight could do.

Forcing herself to forget about it, she started to get more impatient when the teacher didn’t show up after a few minutes. Why hadn’t anyone opened the door of the classroom?

* * *

She already knew the reason.

But it hadn’t been a good way to find out about it. Not when she was covered on a green, sticky substance that smelled so bad that she could throw up at any moment.

Holding her things with one hand and wiping her face with the other, Veronica was definitely furious. Her glasses weren’t in her face, perhaps broken by the impact that the substance, and she would probably need a new uniform, because the one she was using would be impossible to wash.

Her face burned as fire, and she gritted her teeth with anger, knowing that she could have anticipated when she saw that none of her classmates had entered there even though the class was in theory, starting. However, Veronica thought they were just a bunch of idiots who didn’t want to go classes and opened the door to enter. Well, she already saw who the real idiot was.

‘’Are you… fine?’’ Calixto asked slowly as she approached to her. Veronica opened her eyes a little and saw how the other girl was looking at her with a horrified expression. And she knew that it hadn’t been her.

She decided to look at all her classmates who swarmed around her, ready to find the culprit and have a _nice talk_ with them.

They were all muttering and pointing out what had happened with expressions of concern and disbelief, but none seemed to have known it beforehand. Maybe it had been their sense of self-preservation that had saved them from not opening the door, or maybe it was just luck, but Veronica was certainly the victim of it.

Veronica tried to calm the anger that ran through her veins as she frowned and tried not to cry out of frustration. No one had ever played a prank on her since she ended up knocked out after Emira Blight considered that it would be good to throw her a grudgby ball while she was off guard in seventh grade. Al least this was something less serious, she thought, remembering how she hadn’t been able to eat anything for two weeks back then.

‘’I’m going to clean myself’’ She replied curtly and, managing to calm down a bit, ignored everyone as she walked to the restroom.

* * *

When Veronica got there, she looked at her appearance in the mirror and discovered that the sticky, greenish liquid was something she hadn’t saw before, but she could suppose that it came from something really disgusting just by seeing it.

Holding back the urge of vomit, because she didn’t want to get dirtier and she already held out long enough to throw all her efforts overboard, she performed a cleaning spell to remove the substance from her body and place it in the garbage can. It wasn’t enough, of course, she thought looking at the dark and wet stains in her clothes, but she could bear it for the moment.

Veronica opened the water sink to wash her face, and the icy sensation surprise her for a moment when she was doing it, however, it helped her to calm the fury inside her as well as clear her mind. Opening her eyes, she saw out the blurred silhouette of three girls entering through the restroom’s door. She didn’t have her glasses so she couldn’t know who exactly they were, but by their uniforms, two of them were from bards and another from potions, maybe her friend, Marianne, considering that the girl looked as shorter as her.

‘’Uh.. then, Veronica. How are you?’’ One of them hesitated, moving her hands nervously, not knowing how to start the conversation.

‘’Don’t listen to Kate, she’s just nervous because she thinks you’ll end up casting a spell on her’’ Marianne spoke amusedly, with that recognizable tone of hers.

‘’My sister’s reputation precedes me, I know.’’ Managed to said Veronica with a little smile, holding back her tears.

She hated that. It was just an irrelevant comment, but her own feelings reached their peak and the anger, frustration and embarrassment she felt were mixed to make her look like a crybaby for nothing.

‘’Uh, are you crying?’’ Her friend asked with worry, approaching to her with her arms open, ready to hug her. The other girls looked uncomfortable, and maybe a bit guilty as they keep their eyes in her face.

‘’No!’’ She exclaimed after covering her face and get away from them. She didn’t want the other girl hug her when she was at that state. ‘’Well, maybe.’’ She admitted sighing and sobbing a bit. ‘’But it’s not because of you!’’

‘’Oh, we know that’’ Said Marianne relieved. ‘’Calixto sent a text to our group chat, but I was the only one who read it because I have free time now.’’ Explained while she made something appear in the air. ‘’She gave me your glasses and I thought that you would need help, so I also came with Hexter and Kate to comfort you.’’

‘’That’s, right.’’ Kate affirmed with a shy smile. ‘’Sorry for bothering you.’’ She apologized looking at her, and Veronica just nodded at her, trying not to show how her voice would probably break off.

As Marianne gave her glasses, she said something that was really impressive ‘’It was broken before, but Hexter fixed them.’’

‘’It was no problem, mine always ended up breaking when I was playing grudgby and it was easy to perform.’’ Agnes Hexter, the other girl from bards and her classmate in physical education, gave her a smile, watching Veronica grab her glasses and put them on.

‘’It’s great anyway.’’ She thanked calmly, feeling touched. Although Agnes and she had been in the same class for many years, they didn’t interact that much.

‘’So, would you like us to help you?’’ Her friend questioned, pointing at her uniform. ‘’It seems like difficult to manage it by your own.’’

Veronica wiped her tears and offered a weak smile. ‘’That would be great.’’

Doing that, the time flew by. The three girls comforted her as she expressed all her frustration by talking with them, it really helped her to let go everything that had happened to her. Besides that, Kate and Hexter proved to be the best people she had ever known at doing anything related to beauty and personal care, making her look better than before.

* * *

‘’…Then the teacher came in and I told him what happened to you, everything normal up to there. And all of a sudden, he started talking about how the same thing happened to him last year!’’ Calixto commented with great emphasis.

‘’So, it has happened several times?’’ Veronica asked her intrigued.

They were in the class of Theory of Illusions, talking about what had happened after the incident and not paying attention to the teacher, but she thought that it was boring anyway.

‘’Yes! In the middle of his tirade, I heard him say that in the end they weren’t punished for lack of evidence.’’ The girl with braids whispered as if she was telling a great secret.

‘’Well, that doesn’t give us a real clue. There are many people who are smart enough to leave no evidence.’’

‘’I don’t mean that!’’ Answered frustrated, getting close to Veronica’s ear. ‘’What I think, from how he said it, there was evidence to know who the culprits were, but no one did anything.’’

‘’Tell me you don’t mean the ones I think you mean…’’ Veronica murmured angrily as she kept her gaze fixed on the teacher.

‘’I wish that, but Vera, you know that only the Blights are the untouchable ones, even for Principal Bump.’’ She sighed, turning to look at her book. ‘’And maybe Boscha is in the group, but she wouldn’t do such an elaborated prank like that’’ Added with doubt.

‘’Ugh, I knew that, they…!’’

‘’Miss Ryder, it seems that you and Miss O’Halle know enough about this course. So, would you be so kind to comment the possible uses of the spell I just had explained?’’ The teacher interrupted, throwing an illusion spell to cover the content of the blackboard.

Oh, darn it.

* * *

It had been the best answer the teacher had ever heard, Veronica groaned in frustration as she continued walking down the hall. She was expelled from the classroom and wasn’t allowed to return until she reflected on her actions, even when everything she said was correct.

Well, she knew she shouldn’t had been talking while the teacher was explaining something, but everyone always did the same in other classes and no one complained about it!

Thinking that life was pretty unfair and she didn’t deserve anything of what was happening to her, she wandered at a slow pace for some minutes, but then, she suddenly saw in the distance the obviously and unmistakable Blight twins, who were skipping classes as always, considering that she hadn’t seen them in the classroom just a moment ago.

Veronica tried to ignore them and go in another direction, but even before she knew it, she had already headed towards them. Her palms began to sweat as the astonishment passed through her entire body, making her be anxious while she thought whether to talk to them or walk by.

She hadn’t decided yet when Emira and Edric Blight saw her.

‘’Well, well, who do we have here…’’ The girl started, leaning closer to her as she took a step back to keep her distance.

‘’Our applied classmate, Veronica Ryder, skipping classes?’’ Edric continued, giving her a little smirk.

‘’Did you realize that doing it was way funnier than studying topics you already know? That’s good, sweetie.’’ Emira added with amusement.

‘’Do not call me like that, it’s weird.’’ Veronica scolded her, as her cheeks flushed of embarrassment. ‘’And I’m not skipping classes, the teacher kicked me out.’’ Added whispering to justify herself, seeing how the green-haired siblings giggle a bit, raising an eyebrow in expectation. ‘’But you don’t need to know why. Let’s talk about what you guys did in that classroom’’

She crossed her arms with exasperation. ‘’You know, something related to a repulsive liquid and the History of Illusions’ teacher.’’

‘’Ah, that!’’ They exclaimed at the same time.

‘’Yeah, that.’’

‘’We knew it didn’t work. How unfortunate.’’ Sighed the boy with some sorrow.

‘’But, we also heard that it fell on an unlucky girl.’’ Emira chuckled, not taking it seriously. Veronica frowned a little after listening that, and the action wasn’t unnoticed by the girl with the braid. ‘’Oh, wait. Don’t tell me it was you, Veronica.’’

She was annoyed by that, grinning her teeth with anger, but she forced herself to hold it back as she continued speaking. ‘’It was me. Look, I’m not mad at you for that, but I thought we should talk about it because some of the jokes you do are not exactly… desirable.’’

‘’Oh, come on. They’re always fun.’’

‘’I won’t deny that.’’ Said with a little smile. ‘’But what I mean is that you should be sure that is won’t affect any other person, just like it happened to me today.’’

‘’Yours was a little accident caused by your own actions, we can’t control anyone.’’ Emira snorted, rolling her eyes with mock.

‘’You are really so…!’’ Veronica exclaimed with some frustration as she kept thinking why she even tried to be reasonable with them. However, her eyes widened with fear and disbelief as she looked behind the others.

The twins were intrigued by that action, turning back and facing a large snake with big frog-like eyes, yellowish skin and a huge mouth full of sharp fangs. When they were staring at it, they freeze for a moment with fright, but Veronica was worse than them.

She felt how the adrenaline and fear rushed through her veins, and the sound of her quick heartbeats filled her head with noise as she tried to concentrate to cast a spell. This was impossible, of course, her instincts wanted to make her run and don’t care about anything or anyone.

At least Emira and Edric Blight acted faster. They talked amongst themselves, saying something that Veronica honestly didn’t hear and they made a great combined magic circle to try to stop that monster. She wanted to burst in tears of excitement, thinking that could be considered an apology on their part.

However, she watched how that horrible snake absorbed their magic, making them fall, weak and powerless before the creature of great jaws. The only one found standing was Veronica, who was forced by her own values to try to defend them.

Her thoughts were running in her head. She knew it must be something related to that incident on Glandus High, but she didn’t know how to protect herself. She tried to search for something that did not contain magic, but it was impossible.

Veronica started to hyperventilate, cursing her own luck and trying to believe that she wouldn’t run out of magic to the point of death as she forced her arm to cast a magic circle but she barely showed a bit before she felt all her magic was being sucked out of her. She managed to think that what was happening was very pathetic, hoping that the twins didn’t saw it, before fainting and losing consciousness.

* * *

Veronica Ryder woke up in the infirmary confused and still scared about what had happened to her. She managed to calm down a bot when she saw all her friends surrounding her. Sitting down to say something, she felt how everyone were hugging her.

‘’I was terribly scared when I found out you were here!’’ Calixto exclaimed with a worried tone.

‘’You should be in oracle instead of the illusions track, you really predict this.’’ She joked while Jessira, who was the one studying that, glared at her.

‘’It was something easy to know.’’ Giggled the girl of braids.

‘’Anyway, you’re the last to wake up, I almost thought it really taken all your magic out of you.’’ The brunette girl said with concern and mock.

‘’Well, knowing how the creature returned everyone’s magic when the human defeated it, I could say that you had a shock.’’ Eric mentioned slowly, scratching his blue hair.

‘’I don’t think that, I’m quite resistant to any kind of moments that give you adrenaline.’’ She shook her head. ‘’Like terror movies, the roller ghoster and even activities like swimming!’’ Added examples of that, trembling a bit with fear while mentioning the last activity.

‘’That doesn’t mean that you cannot be in shock after seeing a real danger in front of you.’’ Affirmed the boy, smiling with fun.

‘’That’s right, Vera.’’ Marianne assured that too. ‘’It must have been an awful experience.’’

‘’Well, it was.’’ She wouldn’t never forget how she felt facing that creature. ‘’Who found me like that, you know?’’ Veronica asked with a puzzled expression, realizing of a fact that she have ignored before.

‘’Well, isn’t it obvious?’’ Said Jessira with sarcasm. ‘’Your little friends Emira and Edric Blight.’’

‘’Oh, darn it.’’ She said with embarrassment while covering her face with both hands. ‘’It’ll be very uncomfortable to see them now.’’

It was normal to show your weakness to your friends and people you trust, but not to the Blights, especially when they joke with everything they know. Besides that, Veronica was a Ryder after all, and even if they weren’t powerful witches, they at least should not make them be seen as frail and fearful.

‘’I think they won’t joke about it.’’ Calixto tried to comfort her. ‘’Both looked pretty serious when they showed up to let me know you were here.’’

Hearing that, Veronica was quite surprised. She couldn’t imagine both green-haired twins being so kind to do that, but she might be wrong. Smiling a little, she thought that they could be decent people, despite being so careless about everything.

The day had given her many unpleasant surprises, but it also gave her the opportunity to know more about Emira and Edric Blight, who had always seemed so unapproachable inside and outside of Hexside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it was a good chapter right?
> 
> I just wanted to do this bc I hadn't seen anything about Emira Blight and other person that wasn't Viney or Edric, and I was desperate to read an Emira/reader XD
> 
> Then I thought about it a bit and I said to myself, why don't we create a fanfic?
> 
> And now I'm here :D 
> 
> PS: yeah, in theory Veronica is me (well, reader, but personalised for me n with a name instead of y/n), but her life is actually pretty better than mine (problems of living in the third world) and ended up being a real oc XD
> 
> Leave your kudos and comments if you like this weird stuff I'm doing!〔´∇ ｀〕


	2. Is hard to be responsible students

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected situation causes Verónica and her teammates to make an interesting decision.
> 
> With a class cancelled and a bet in place, Veronica and her friend, Calixto, need to find the Blight twins before anyone else.
> 
> Who said being responsible was just boring?

Veronica could admit that she wasn't a model student.

She always ended up being distracted in class or simply forgot to do some homework beforehand, which led her to do it in the middle of school hours or in some extreme cases, to copy it from her friends while the teacher began to check it.

Even with that, she tried to be much more responsible with group works. Especially when their classmates decided that these types of activities were the same as socializing time and they didn't mind dragging others to have low grades. In that situation, someone had to be the one to maintain order and supervise them, right?

But even so, she could not accept the group the teacher had formed. Not when it had all the situations where she just wanted to screw everything up and do nothing in one project.

Could this be the first course she would fail in all her time as a student? Veronica thought dejectedly and anxiously as she walked over to the _Magical Society's Comprehension_ teacher's desk.

It was the first time she had taken that class, a mandatory one for all Hexsidians from the tenth year on, and she couldn't say that she had started well. Especially when she had to do a group work that was equivalent to half of the final grade, was too complex and required a lot of the time that she wasn't willing to deliver.

If that was bad enough for her to get mad or frustrated for weeks, then add in the fact that she had to do it with the _Blight twins_.

Well, Veronica didn't deny that they were interesting and fun people, but trying to get them to commit to do something so tedious as researching genealogical roots and other boring things was almost as impossible as making trash slugs don’t eat garbage. Which meant that they should try to change the groups so that at least they and their teammates had a chance to pass the course.

And of course, when deciding who the poor devil would be who should suggest that to the teacher, they had to choose her.

Got damnit.

"Teacher, groups really can't be changed?" Veronica asked in a strangled voice, trying not to show the nervousness she felt inside.

"They're not changing, Ms. Ryder. I already explained the reason for this.''

Explanation that she found nothing reasonable, by the way.

 _Grouped in order of entry into the room?_ That could well be a punishment for the fact that the four who were present of her group, including her, had been the last to arrive. Apart from that, Emira and Edric Blight ended up skipping class and therefore, they were also with them. Really unfortunate.

Holding back the urge to go where her classmates were and just trying to move on with them on the project, Veronica tried to make the teacher understand the reasons for that, although she couldn't say anything before the teacher added sternly. "Ms, Ryder, if you really can't work cooperatively with your peers, then you better drop out of my class."

Oh no.

"It won't be necessary, miss." She mumbled as her face started to flush with embarrassment knowing that all of her classmates had heard that.

Keeping her head down, avoiding the gazes of the others and pretending not to hear Jessira's giggles, she made her way to the table where all her teammates were sitting.

"Darn, you just got humiliated there." Katherine, a feline-looking girl who was on oracle track, said monotonously ignoring the muffled sound that the black-haired made as she slightly looked up from her notebook at Veronica.

"A pitiful spectacle, really." The only boy at the table, Louis, sighed with resignation, crossing his arms.

"I don't understand why all of you at Oracle are so mean." Calixto said, frowning in the direction where their friend, Jessira, was and then looking at the other two who were sitting with her and Veronica, "Besides, that practically means that she has also humiliated us."

''And also stepped on our only hopes of passing this course.'' Veronica spluttered with frustration covering her face with both hands.

Now the only thing left to do was wait for a miracle that would make Emira and Edric Blight want to participate in the project.

''There is an option.''

Veronica raised her head to look at Katherine, who was giving a somewhat suspicious smile, which obviously didn't bode well, as she searched for something in her backpack.

"Well then, you have to try." Louis said quickly as he returned a smile, before she could even say anything.

And pandemonium broke out.

* * *

"That was a bad idea."

While coughing heavily, Veronica stared in disbelief at Katherine. It had clearly been a bad idea, and although she refused to admit it, the teacher had reacted more calmly than she thought.

Although perhaps it was because she had considered it an accident caused by some strange phenomenon, rather than something done by the students. They had been lucky, at least. Summoning some spirits to do the project had been the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen, especially when they ended up being poltergeists who completely filled the room with dust.

"I did it with Jessira once and it worked perfectly." The cat-like girl said nervously as she tried to hold back a sneeze. "I don't understand what happened now."

''Jessira is the nightmare of the spirits, of course they will obey her without much effort.'' Calixto mentioned half-jokingly, trying to dust off his clothes and making the others sneeze one round more.

At least the class had been cancelled, which gave them complete freedom to do whatever they wanted during that period, as all their other classmates had already done. However, Veronica wouldn't miss the opportunity to convince the others to not give up on this, because it was obvious that they were hopeless and thought of doing other things instead of trying.

"Guys, we have to get serious and plan how we're going to do this."

"Veronica, be realistic. This thing is not going to work.'' The boy muttered slowly as he leaned his back against the wall.

"That's true, switching groups was the only viable way to get it right." Katherine added.

"And that's why we should try to do it together, with the Blight included." She objected in an irritated voice. She certainly didn't think that was a good idea, but it was the only thing left to do.

"Well, we always get good marks in the compulsory Illusions, as well as in Astrology and Arithmancy. Only the other electives would be missing, and we could make up for this.'' Calixto hinted at her as if it were a fact that they would fail the course.

"Uh-huh, we could clearly do that." She nodded before turning to look at the other two. "But if you guys fail, it's going to be difficult for your average to be acceptable."

''It's not important, dude. We always pass the semester.'' Louis shrugged as he laughed a little.

"And it will be like directly killing your social life." She raised her eyebrows as she gave a mocking smile. "You know, when your parents find out about that, I don't think they'll let you go back to your clubs or even go out with your friends."

"We'll deal with that when it's time."

"Exactly, it's better to have fun while you can, right?"

"This way you'll miss the intercollegiate debate season, Louis." She sighed with false sadness. "And the presentation of the comic can't happen without you, Kath.", added seriously afterwards.

Watching both freeze in their place, Veronica knew she had touched their weak point. With both major events at the end of the semester, there was definitely nothing they could do to miss them, not when they were indispensable members. She thanked the entire universe for being an unofficial member of those clubs and knowing their entire schedule of activities.

"Now that Louis and Katherine are forced to participate, you're not going to let me withdraw, are you?" Calixto snorted in amusement, pointing to herself while Veronica shook her head.

"You don't need anyone to force you. You know it is suicide to try to get an A + in all courses.''

''Good point.''

Seeing how all four of them were willing to move forward on the project, Veronica felt completely satisfied and definitely had positive expectations about the grade they would get in Magical Society's Comprehension. Until she remembered that they should also do it with the Blight twins.

Damn.

"So, what do we do now?" Katherine murmured after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't know, I never thought it would come to this." Louis mused slowly, turning to see the black-haired girl. "Any ideas, boss?"

''Haha, how funny.'' Veronica snorted wryly as she leaned her elbow on Calixto's shoulder and adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses. "Clearly we must find Emira and Edric to convince them to help, dudes."

"We should go together for that, right?" The one with braids suggested as she gave them a small smile.

"Nah." The boy smiled and Veronica knew that what he was about to say was not good ''How about we compete to see who finds them first?''

''No, no, no. That's just going to waste our time.'' She refused, reluctant to participate in something that would ultimately make no sense.

"What if the losers owe the winner something?"

"You're tempting me." She winked her eye and ignored how a smiling Calixto gently shook her head as if she was disappointed.

"It's going to be very difficult to do it individually." Katherine objected with a serious tone before laughing and purred. "Let's do it in duets, okay?"

''Good.'' Veronica quickly accepted to nod to Calixto with complicity ''Let it be an Illusions vs Oracle, or are you guys afraid of losing?''

"That will be perfect."

With a quick goodbye and after sealing an everlasting oath, Veronica and Calixto set out to search for the Blight twins.

* * *

As they walked through the quiet corridors of Hexside, which had almost no people walking through them because they were all supposed to be in class, both girls started talking about what they should do to 'caught' Emira and Edric Blight before their Oracle friends.

"... I think we should make our clones; you know, more is better." Veronica said as she created 10 copies of herself, which stood in front of them in an orderly manner ''And…''

"Give them follow-up runes that will activate when found." They both said the same idea, looking surprised for a few seconds before laughing a bit.

''Exactly. But you don't create clones of yourself.'' She stopped the other girl by holding her hand to stop her from making her copies.

"Why not?" Calixto asked puzzled.

"We're going to need some illusions later when we find the Blight. You know, as a precaution.'' She winked her eye thinking about the possibility that they would escape as soon as they heard them talk about doing a project.

The other girl laughed, and they both began to make the runes that would connect the clones to themselves.

"So, Vera. How do you think Louis and Kath will try to find them?" Calixto mentioned as they both concentrated on writing the runes.

"They will definitely use some spirit to track them down." Veronica murmured as she finished the last stroke of the rune and moved on to the next one. ''Or maybe those mysterious paper gadgets that help identify someone's future. Anyway, we have the advantage, don't you think?''

"Clearly, dude." The one with braids laughed lightly before the two walked over to the clones to give them their corresponding runes. "I would never agree to bet on something when I have a chance of losing." She said seriously turning to see the other.

"Same with me. In fact, I've already chosen what I want them to do for me.'' Veronica smirked as she watched her clones start walking in different directions to search for the Blight twins.

A hint of curiosity crossed the other girl's eyes as she raised an eyebrow and smiled. "What?"

“You know, I was thinking about asking Louis for a spot to participate in the end-of-semester interscholastic debate, and I wanted to ask Kath to let me choose what I want to do at the club.''

"Oh..." Calixto gave her a puzzled look. "I thought you were going to make them do something embarrassing."

"Nah, we're old enough to start focusing on things that will define our future." Veronica said as she started to walk, "And also because I want to stop making posters for other clubs." She added turning around and winking at the other girl.

"Well, I'm going to make them do something funny." She mentioned laughing before asking about what Veronica had said earlier "Hey, aren't you supposed to be at the drawing club? Why would you make posters for others?''

"Uhh, do you remember when I told you that the supplies we had weren't decent at all?"

''Yes…?''

"Well, since I was mainly in charge of managing our things, I decided it would be a good idea to pay for the materials with snails obtained from making works, drawings and posters for clubs." She revealed nervously.

"While being the competition of the Hexside Advertising Department?!'' Calixto exclaimed looking at her in disbelief ''That's going to be a disaster when they find out, you know?''

"It's not going to happen. We only do things for people or clubs that don't matter." She tried to justify herself while avoiding the other's gaze ''For example, the Human Appreciation Society and maybe, the Abomination try-outs.''

Veronica stopped speaking when Calixto stopped in front of a billboard, where the posters she had mentioned earlier were seen covering everything else. "Look, Vera, you know it's a bad idea, so you should put an end to it before someone notices something strange."

"But Cal, I'm serious when I'm saying that nobody will know about that, because we have taken all the necessary precautions for that." She emphasized irritably trying not to show the fact that she was uneasy about it. "Besides, the annual comic contest is the only chance we have to show our potential." She sputtered crossing her arms.

"But that doesn't mean you have to get involved in things that can have bad consequences."

"I know, but if I never risked anything, then I'll never…" Veronica couldn't finish when one of the runes connected to the ones the clones carried came out of her pocket and transformed into a small ball of blue light that was moving away more each time. ”Some of them found them.'' She whispered excitedly before following it and leaving her friend behind.

"This conversation is not over." Calixto sighed wearily before running in the direction the girl with glasses was heading.

* * *

Following the small ball of light, Veronica realized that this was the hallway that led to the temporary detention room. There was no way her clones would disobey her or even be wrong, so what the hell were the Blight twins doing in that place?

"Uh, are you sure this is the right place?" Calixto murmured doubtfully, slowly stopping in front of the door of that room, where the clone of the black-haired girl was leaning on.

''Completely sure.'' Her clone smiled politely.

"Exactly, it's impossible for my clones to fail at this." Veronica assured as ahe snapped her fingers and made the illusions disappear. "We have to drop the other runes and go inside to see what's inside."

''Yeah.''

After doing that, they opened the door in the quietest way they could to enter the room without anyone noticing, but the surprise was great when they saw that there was no one other than a teacher sleeping inside.

"My clone rebelled against me?" Veronica whispered to herself incredulously looking down at her hands and staying still in place.

"How strange..." Calixto commented as she passed her gaze all over the room, trying to find something that would give them a clue of where the others might be and he stopped in front of the blackboard, where there was a faint drawing of a door with a key hole, next to a big Shhh. ''Hey Vera, look at this.''

Walking slowly, Veronica stood next to the girl and looked at that curiously. "What do you think this is?"

"Some kind of door to another secret place, considering the glamor of cover-up they threw on it." Shrugged.

''It could be.'' Veronica said more cheerfully, thinking that in the end, her clone hadn't lied to her. ''It fit with them. Although I don't understand why they would do it here when there are more suitable places.'' She added confused.

"It used to be an unoccupied room, maybe that's why." The other girl murmured slowly as she tried to figure out how the door would open.

Veronica nodded, finding the explanation coherent as she took turns watching her friend try to open the door and look out that the teacher didn't wake up, which seemed quite unlikely, seeing how he slept like a log. Meanwhile, her mind wandered between the Blight twins' reasons for having a secret hideout on Hexside and whether it would be appropriate to break into it.

The sound of something opening brought her out of her musings and she turned to see how the small door in the blackboard opened in front of a surprised Calixto who was holding a chalk in her hand. ''Wow.''

''You're amazing.'' She complimented, drawing closer, "Should we go in now?" Veronica asked trying to see inside the door, where she could see a hallway dimly lit by small ceiling lights and another door at the end.

"I don't know, maybe there is something dangerous inside ..."

''Well that's true.'' She admitted while thinking about what to do. "How about I send some clones there? So that they investigate and see if it's safe, you know.''

''That's a good idea.'' Said her friend and just finished, two clones of them had entered inside.

Veronica and Calixto waited a few seconds before they heard their clones comment that everything was fine, however, as while preparing to enter, they heard the footsteps of other people coming in their direction, along with the soft murmur of quite familiar voices.

Veronica cursed internally when she recognized them as the voices of Catherine and Louis, who apparently didn't take long to find Emira and Edric too ''We must hide the drawing more that it was before.''

''Leave it to me.'' Calixto replied as she threw an stronger illusion of glamor throughout the room. "It wouldn't hurt if you made realistic clones of both of us to distract them." She proposed raising her eyebrows.

"That's a good idea, two clones for them to have a chit-chat." Veronica hummed creating two clones who started talking about unimportant things between themselves, ''Ok, this is perfect.''

''So, let's go.''

* * *

"Ouch!"

''Sorry.'' Her friend said quietly after her elbow hit her.

Veronica got up from the ground and watched how Calixto closed the small door just before they heard their clones starting to talk to their friends. They sighed in relief before turning and looking at the door at the end.

"Hey, before going there and completely ignoring that," Veronica pointed to the Keep out! sign on the wall ''I think it's okay if we both agree now that we will never show this place to Jessira, Eric or anyone else.''

''Obviously. I don't want to be the victim of jokes until I graduate from high school if the Blights find out about it.'' Her friend winced a little before cracking a small smile.

"Good survival instinct." She winked before heading down the narrow hall to the door.

"Thanks, I know when not to do dangerous things like provoke the Blight or _do illegal activities at school_." She threw her a hint that Veronica completely ignored as she concentrated on trying to hear something from the other side.

Leaning her ear against the door, she cast a spell that allowed the sound on the other side to be heard by her and was surprised when she heard the voices of different people arguing inside.

"... You must get out of here; this is a place only for those who deserve it."

"We have the same right as ..."

"You are intruders! We don't want others to discover this place.''

Were there other people besides Edric and Emira Blight?

Veronica began to speak, turning her face away from the door and looking at her in confusion. "I think we should get out of here...''

She didn't finish saying it when suddenly, the door opened and a girl slightly shorter than her, with brown hair and green eyes, came out in front of her with a fierce expression and looked up even angrier when she saw that she was there.

Oh, damn.

''I told you! First you, then your friends, and in the end, the whole school will end up using this room for the wrong things.'' That girl frowned before turning and walking back into the room.

Veronica saw that her uniform was unconventional, being the colors of beast keeping and healing at the same time. Was it possible that it was multitrack? She wondered in confusion but left those thoughts behind when she felt how her shoulder was gently touched by Calixto, who pushed her forward to enter and check who was there.

When she walked in, Veronica was completely shocked. The place was unique and extravagant, much like a tower, with a high ceiling that ended in a dome and a spiral staircase that led to the highest point of the place. However, the strange thing was that it had doors and windows of different shapes all over the walls and even the same floor.

She couldn't pay enough attention to all the details when she heard the girl mutter to another boy who went through a door, before addressing them and the Blight twins, who were leaning against the wall, apparently completely relaxed. "You must go, right now."

"Why should we?" Calixto asked curiously. Veronica was confused even though she had overheard a bit of their conversation before.

“This is the place for multitrack witches only, not just anyone.

"Oh."

"This place is inside the school, so in theory it can be used by anyone who knows about it." Veronica said after seeing that her friend was speechless, with her gaze fixed on Emira and Edric Blight, who smiled at her slightly.

"We already told her that." Edric mentioned crossing his arms while Emira snorted in amusement.

"And I already said we can't allow them back in here. Not when you guys'', said pointing to the green-haired twins ''came in here spying on Jerbo. And you'', she glared to Calixto and Veronica ''came as their accomplices.''

"We didn't come because they asked us to, we just found the door in the detention room." Veronica objected in a calm tone.

''And anyone could do it if they paid a little more attention and knew the basics of seeing through glamor.'' Her friend followed with a shrug.

"I don't believe you, that's...''

"Uhm, Viney." The boy, apparently named Jerbo, who they had seen go before muttered nervously as he walked out with a dog that barked twice, "Barcus says his auras are as clear and honest as a pond of clean water."

"Obviously it's true." Veronica laughed a little trying to be as polite and diplomatic as she did in the debates ''But we did it because we were looking for Emira and Edric.''

Viney, who was possibly eleventh grade (guessed vaguely recalling that Eric told him about a girl a year older than him who used a griffon in healings) turned to Barcus, who nodded slightly confirming the veracity of what Veronica said. "Then just take them out of here and forget about this place, or you'll have a really bad time."

''Wait.'' Veronica added hurriedly seeing how the girl opened a door that led to a hall. Calixto, who was apparently doing a spell aimed at the Blight twins, and the multitrack guys seemed surprised by it, but she knew she couldn't miss that opportunity.

''What?''

"I want to propose a deal to you." She smiled nervously as she ran her hand through her hair, not being intimidated by the other girl's strong tone. ''How about we take an eternal oath to make sure we don't say anything?''

"What are you plotting with that?" Jerbo asked quickly suspecting her proposal while his friends frowned. Emira and Edric Blight maintained their normal facade, but their eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"I want to do something that benefits both of us." Veronica admitted. "You know. Calixto and I swore not to tell anyone about this, as well as not to use it without permission, but if we really need to enter, I want you to give us permission to be here.''

Her friend looked at her in confusion and improvised some more. "If we do that, you guys are going to be in control here."

The other three saw each other before Viney spoke. "That's fine, but what about the Blights?" She said looking at them, who kept watching them as if they were some kind of soap program.

"We can knock them out and make them forget about this." Calixto muttered carelessly before Veronica could respond.

''Hey!''

Ignoring how the green-haired siblings seemed puzzled, Veronica tried to make amends for that. "They can agree to be a part of this too. Or we can just go with Calixto's idea.''

She knew that internally the twins might be mad at her for forbidding a grand opportunity to enter a room that allowed them to do pranks and other things they normally do, but they were still pertinent enough to accept it.

"That's good enough for us." Emira rolled her eyes before approaching her brother.

"Then let's get started." Said the black-haired girl extending her hand towards Viney and beginning to talk about the terms that would apply to her ''If at any time I tell someone about this place or tried to enter without the explicit or implicit permission of Viney, Jerbo and Barcus, so I uhm, I'll tell all the darkest secrets that I have in front of the school and I'll also turn into a bug until I'm 18.''

The multitrack girl widened her eyes in disbelief, before stating her terms. "If I ever see that you really need to enter the secret room of shortcuts, then I will accept that you are here and if not, I will take care of cleaning the unicorn stable for a month."

Got’cha.

Veronica smiled internally knowing that what she had thought was true. Viney was actually quite good and seemed to have a good sense of justice.

It had been risky, but if she had learned something from the debates (and partly from the fights with her sister) was that she should always bet and treat useless things as precious so that a trade looks fair, or even worse for you and thus obtain most favourable conditions.

 _Tell someone about that place?_ Dream on, she didn't want to create any more troublemakers in Hexside, so it was better to seal that together with everyone and win the chance for the green-eyed girl to agree to help her by using the secret room. And it happened, which was the best thing for her.

Veronica was the first to seal the oath with Viney, and was followed by Calixto and the Blight twins, who laid down their own punishments, some of which were funny and some just shameful but not difficult to do, but Viney's conditions didn’t repeat with the other three.

And so, the four students from Illusions left the secret room of shortcuts into a corridor, leaving the others inside.

* * *

"What just happened there?" Said the girl with braids stunned, grabbing and shaking Veronica slightly, realizing what they had just done.

"Everyday stuff, Cal." Said the other relaxed ''You get used to that after several...''

"Have you done this kind of thing before?!''

"Debate club stuff, the training to hide your emotions, aura and even thoughts is brutal. You should try it.'' She suggested jokingly.

"We just did an everlasting oath with people we don't know!" Has it become a form of fun for you to do dangerous and illegal things like this and the drawing club thing?!''

"Wow. I thought you were a calm and boring person, but it seems like you are a bold witch.'' He mentioned the green-haired boy with amusement winking at him before following his sister, who had already moved considerably away from them.

Veronica and Calixto both ignored that comment, while realizing that their goals for the bet they previously made were slowly slipping away. They were definitely not going to let that happen.

Calixto created a wall in front of them, trying to make it as difficult to break as possible so that they couldn't leave, and Veronica hurriedly walked towards them.

"Wait, you can't go yet." She babbled as she tried to think of an efficient way to convince them to participate in the boring project they had to do.

"I think we can, can't we, Ed?" Emira laughed softly as she elbowed her brother, who nodded slightly.

Veronica concentrated on maintaining a regular expression, lips slightly curved into a smile and eyes that showed no concern. You are negotiating something important, behave as if you were in a debate, she thought before speaking. "Well, you can, but you shouldn't. We need to talk about our project and what we need to do in order to get a good grade.''

"I'm sorry girls, but that sounds pretty boring." Dramatically sighed the green-haired girl putting her hand over her heart.

"And we have a lot to do these days."

"It's not just for these days," Calixto mumbled. "It's the final project for Comprehension of the Magic Society and is equal to half the grade for the entire semester."

"An C seems like a good grade to me." Edric said as he leaned against the wall that Calixto had created, who frowned slightly but did nothing about it.

Veronica was mentally grateful that at least the other girl had more self-control than her other friends in serious moments, since they would definitely remove the illusion so that the green-haired boy fell. "We need information about your family, it won't take long for you guys to find it." She asserted, knowing that as an important family, the Blights must have some family record ''and the six of us can meet on the weekend to sort through the information we have.''

"Sounds interesting, but what will you give us to do it?" Emira asked with interest, apparently trying to take advantage of the situation.

"An A + in that course, obviously."

''Oh.'' They both seemed quite disappointed by the answer. "I thought you would do something important like with the multitrack students there." Said the girl.

''Why should I do that?'' She huffed amused ''This is your project too.''

"To convince us." Emira smirked.

"I could but...''

Before Veronica could speak, Calixto cut her off in a serious tone. "Just think that the consequences of not doing the minimum we ask is equivalent to having people from Oracle annoying you forever."

''Oracle?''

"Yup, it's good that we found them before they did, they'd probably have a hard time if they did." Veronica shrugged. "Approving this is decisive for them."

"Isn't it for you?" Edric raised his eyebrow curiously.

''It is.'' Veronica nodded before giggling a bit. "But we're not as upset and possibly desperate as they would be if they heard you don't want to help us. So are you going to do it?''

''We can try.''

"I think that's enough for now, right?" Veronica said looking at her friend to see if she was okay.

''I guess.'' Calixto smiled kindly before invoking his parchment and writing something. "I just sent you a friend request on Penstagram, it will be great if you accept."

Well, that was an excellent idea to keep them in check, Veronica thought as she pulled out her own scroll to do the same. "I just sent you a request too."

Emira and Edric checked their Penstagram accounts and accepted, which sent them a notification that they both ignored to close their scroll. Veronica felt a strange mixture of surprise, confusion and satisfaction within her knowing that the green-haired ones had somehow agreed to participate in her group project.

"So… I guess that would be it for now guys," Veronica mentioned casually as she shoved her hands in her pockets, not sure how to say goodbye.

"So, see you in the next class." Calixto said goodbye awkwardly, seeing as apparently the one with glasses wasn't going to do it. "If you come, of course." She added with a soft silly laugh before turning and slowly leaving.

"Maybe another day, bye!" Emira said goodbye waving her hand with her brother while Veronica, who was already with her friend, turned around and did the same as them.

Straying further away from where the other boys were, Veronica thought the Blight were unpredictable, especially when she already assumed they would fervently refuse at the slightest mention of investigating something boring, and also because of how strange it was to find them in a rare place as rare as the secret room of shortcuts that belonged to the multitrack people. That was also quite interesting, but none of her concern, she convinced herself trying to push away the questions and theories that were popping up in her brain about it.

Veronica stopped rambling when she heard a thud of someone falling and the distant murmur of the voices of her classmates, her expression going blank for a moment, the gears of her brain trying to know what had happened, until she realized that her friend was laughing softly.

So that was that.

''You're so mean.'' _For removing an illusion Edric had been leaning on._ Veronica laughed too as she ruffled her friend's hair. "Eric and Jessira would be very proud of you."

"It was just to let him know that my illusions are not for people to lean on." Calixto snorted trying to avoid the other's hand and totally failing.

"Where should we go now, Cal?" She changed the subject, ceasing to bother her friend and resting her arm on her shoulders.

"To the Illusory Runes class, clearly.'' The girl with braids said before remembering something important "No, wait. We must find and tell Catherine and Louis that we found the Blight, so we can have our reward.''

''Oh, true. We should go see if they are still talking to our clones.'' Veronica remembered with interest.

They started heading over to the temporary classroom for detention, ignoring a pixie that flew over their heads and Veronica thought that was a good day so far, because even when she ended with the assignment of an undesirable project, she and her friend had experienced an interesting quest to find the Blights, and the reveal of a secret location.

''Don't even think I have forgotten that you are making illegal sales in the school. We will talk about that later.''

Ug, now it seemed more like an ordinary thursday in Hexside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I actually like writing this story so the update of the next chapters will be as fast as I can do it! -W- 
> 
> Without stop studying my own things from school, pre-u academy and english academy, of course. I'm trying to leave Latam and that goal won't be real if I just write fanfics, u know.
> 
> Complicated things will happen on the next chapter, you'll know more about Vera's life and what's problems she have, but I think that you can deduce them from this and the 1st chapter.
> 
> PS: I'm working with Vera's pov bc she will be the first on realizing that she might like Emira and also will be a disaster for her normal and ordinary life. When she reach the point of deciding what to do, then I'll start with Emira) lol.
> 
> Leave your kudos and comments if you like this weird stuff I'm doing!〔´∇ ｀〕


	3. Study session in Vera's house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and her teammates try to do an advance with their project. Blights won't let that happen easily.
> 
> Or, just a normal weekend of some busy Hexside students.
> 
> There’s nothing wrong with it, right?

"... I don't think they're coming." Louis mentioned with resignation as he saw how the lights of all the buildings that surrounded the square where they were began to turn on, announcing the imminent arrival of night.

Well, Veronica already knew. But she refused to accept it.

"Let’s wait a few more minutes, okay?" She said, ignoring how her friends were reluctant to do so.

Was it really that difficult for the Blight twins to attend a reunion?

Neither she nor her teammates were demanding much of them, really. They already accepted the fact that they would have to do most of the project without but didn't imagine that the impudence of both would be so great that they would miss their first meeting as a group.

What had she been expecting of them? She thought pessimistically as she looked back at her watch. It marked 6:15 PM, which meant that Emira and Edric Blight were fifteen minutes late. _Fifteen minutes_. Apparently just getting together to talk about information splitting and other related things wasn't important enough for them.

Well, she was disappointed, but it was predictable. Crying over spilled milk would not change anything and besides, the project wasn't going to end alone. Still, that uneasy feeling wouldn't go away for a long time, not when she'd thought she'd come to an unspoken agreement of _goodwill_ with both green-haired siblings.

Seeing how discouraged she was, Catherine tried to cheer her up. "Maybe something happened to them and they died." The feline girl murmured in a funereal tone that made them laugh a little.

''Perhaps.'' Calixto snorted as she ran a hand over her head "Although they might come as ghosts and let us know." She joked laughing some more.

"Do you want to find out?" The only boy present raised his eyebrows with suggestion.

"Oh, for the titan. That would probably end badly.'' Veronica smirked a little as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her white hoodie.

"No thanks, I don't want to end up like class on Thursday." The one with braids said before pointing at herself. "And I'm wearing a new set of clothes, in case you don't realize it."

''That was a small mistake.'' Louis crossed his arms as he stood in front of them. "And it would work better than texting them on Penstagram."

"Well, he has a point for it." His trackmate said slowly.

"Uh-huh, but we're not going to do it because it doesn't matter anymore."

"By being the first to give up, Vera? It seems you really got mad that what they told you was a lie." The boy countered shrewdly as he clapped her on the shoulder with mocking compassion.

Well, it was her weak point. "At least I was more successful than you and your ... uncontrollable little spirits." _But she wouldn't admit it._ She gritted her teeth in frustration in a vain attempt to annoy the other.

''To later make us fall into the great abyss of boredom while we wait for them. You can see the success, Veronica.'' Catherine whispered in a monotonous, almost silent tone. Hearing that, the black-haired girl took it lightly because she knew that the other was still angry about the bet, after all, no one would be happy if you told them that they had to do advertising instead of continuing to draw. Still, Louis was another case, she thought ready to have an argument with him.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Calixto made a face of disgust as she rolled her eyes. "We have to forget about our absent teammates and start going to Vera's house to finish doing everything we have to do today."

"Yeah, that's what we should do, guys," She added as she winked to get her ace off her sleeve. "Besides, we can always pay Jessira to steal that silly family record that they must have at their house."

"Steal what?"

Veronica winced a little after hearing a familiar voice behind her ear. Turning quickly to see if she was who she thought it was, and unluckily, her suspicions were true. She internally sweared as her cheeks turned red with embarrassment knowing that the Blight twins had definitely heard that.

Since when had they been behind them?

Veronica hadn't realized it, but she guessed from the amused expressions and little giggles, that they have been around for quite some time. Ugh, definitely proving to be the most powerful family even with the little tricks like the one that made them unnoticed in front of others.

She was definitely not annoyed.

''What the hell?'' Calixto asked with an angry tone, apparently being the first of the four to show her frustration ''You were supposed to be here long ago!''

"We were here the whole time," Emira shrugged smugly and Veronica pressed her lips together tightly. None would dare to insult or reprimand them for it as they were Blights, but despite not showing anger, the blank expressions on their faces weren't the friendliest they could be given.

"Then you must know what we'll do now, right?" She replied giving them a small fake smile ''Although we wouldn't mind if you just give us what we ask and leave, after all, you are very busy people.''

''Yes, sure.'' Edric replied as he made a book appear in his hands and quickly offered it to her.

"Thank y..." Before Veronica could grab it, the book disappeared as quickly as it appeared and both twins laughed a little.

''Why the rush? I thought you wanted us to be at the meeting you scheduled.'' Emira said putting a hand on her chest with a fake pained expression.

"That was a little demonstration that we're... pretty committed to this." The other boy added as he crossed his arms in a somewhat defiant stance.

Sure, as if she were to believe that.

As she ignored the snort of annoyance and disbelief from Calixto behind her, Veronica replied, "Then let's go and get this over with." Then she was the first to leave where they were, walking briskly without looking back.

She supposed her friends would follow her, just as Emira and Edric would, since they were apparently quite interested in chatting about the most boring class in all of Hexside. And if they didn't, that was fine, after all, she still has not enough patience to deal with them.

* * *

After walking a bit through the well-lit streets of the uptown shopping area, close to where petty bourgeois families lived and where the streets, people and buildings looked much better than the city centre, Veronica stopped in front of the entrance of a small, rather striking medical office. "We are here."

''This is your house?'' Catherine asked strangely while trying to find out if it was a joke.

''Wow. I always thought that all the Ryders lived at Ryder Manor.'' Emira raised her eyebrows in surprise saying what most had in mind at the time.

"Not all of them, long story." She answered dryly while knocking on the door of the place. "And it's not my house itself, but it will be much faster to go here."

"Is it a secret passage to your house?" Louis imagined while laughing a little ‘'That would be quite interesting.''

"Just as if I'm going to show that to you guys," she sneered as she waited for the door to open. "Maybe for you, Cal." She winked her eye playfully at the one with braids, before knocking again on the door louder and seeing how no one answered, she raised her voice a little. ''Hello? Are you going to open the door for me?''

Some sounds of things falling, along with the hurried footsteps of a person were heard from inside and the door opened abruptly, showing a rather familiar face.

"Eric?!'' Both Oracle guys exclaimed, opening their eyes in surprise.

"Oh, hi guys what...''

Interrupting the blue haired boy, Veronica pushed him away from the door to enter and gestured for the others to do the same. "Yes, big surprise. Eric is ... kind of like a free worker for my parents, nothing to write home about.''

"It's being an apprentice, you know." He grumble a bit before turning to the others. "You should pass before someone steals something from you. It is rare, but nowhere in Bonesborough is spared from pickpockets.''

With that warning, the other boys entered the building. The light blinded them for a moment, before they saw the nice and cosy interior within it. The lights perfectly illuminated the environment and the white and blue walls covered with some diplomas which made it seem quite professional. There was a reception desk and a set of black armchairs with flowerpots on their sides facing it, along with a small shelf full of books and magazines a little further out.

"Hey, don't stay there." Veronica called, opening a door that apparently was only for staff.

The first to move there were the Blight twins, who were quite curious about what they would find inside. What they saw was quite disappointing. It was a long corridor with dim lights and a few doors on the sides, from which a girl and Eric were heard talking, apparently playing Hexes Hold'em as they always do when they had free time.

"Ignore that, it's just Eric and Beatrice, who is my parents' real apprentice." She shrugged it off, laughing a little.

"I heard you!" The blue-haired boy exclaimed from where he was.

"Oh, is Beatrice the girl who dropped you off at the Carnival on Friday?" Calixto asked curiously as she walked alongside the black-haired girl.

''Yeah. She was seeing that I really met with you. Order of my parents.'' She snorted in amusement remembering how the 22-year-old witch take her by _walking instead of flying_ , as she looked back and saw how Edric and the Oracle guys looked quite interested in opening some doors. "Hey! Don't touch open anything, they have my parents' things.''

"Things like what?" Catherine asked, changing the subject.

Veronica stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "Healing potions, materials, and other things that shouldn't matter unless you want to end up being cursed." She said seriously before adding, "My sister was in charge of putting cursed runes that will be activated if a stranger tries to pick the locks."

"Wait, isn't she supposed to have studied Beast Keeping?" Edric was quite surprised by that, a part of him incredulous at the girl's warning.

"Her hobby is cursing people." Veronica said carelessly, walking and ignoring the murmurs behind her.

"Oh, I thought those rumours weren't true…" Louis whispered.

"Well, it was something to be expected of the greatest Grom Queen of all time." Edric commented with some admiration as his sister rolled her eyes.

''Exactly, dude. People who were present that day said that her fears were taken from previous queens' fears because Grom couldn't know the true ones.'' Catherine murmured with an expression of interest.

Well, Veronica definitely didn't want to know about the reasons why many people admired her sister's actions when she was on Hexside, because she knew perfectly well that most of them were false.

It was true that Lucia Ryder had beaten the Grom much faster than anyone, of course. But even though she hadn't spoken to anyone about it, fighting with the Grom affected her demeanour for years, making her more irascible and paranoid of everyone, far more temperamental than she was before.

Which ended up being a nightmare for her, obviously.

Her sister had taken it upon herself to vent her anger and problems on her, yelling and even bullying her to the point of tears. Damn childhood traumas, she thought with a bittersweet feeling installed in her chest. Although she understood why her sister acted that way in the past, it wasn't something that was easily overcome.

She shook her head a bit to get those thoughts out of her mind. It was useless to waste time on that when she had to focus on doing what she had come to do. Accelerating the pace further, the corridor soon came to an end at another door.

"Well, we went through the garden and into my house." She said aloud, explaining what they should do when he opened the door. "Don't touch anything and definitely don't go to places I don't tell you. My parents are away, and I don't want to witness weird accidents.''

"Obviously we're going to do that, aren't we guys?" Calixto asked loudly, interrupting the pleasant chat the others were having.

"Yes, yes, whatever."

"Ugh, just don't do the things you wouldn't want other people to do in your house, okay?" Veronica warned before opening the door and walking forward.

The familiar three-story white house with a tower included in their vision, and she made sure that no lights inside were on before continuing to walk through the garden. She didn't want her parents or sister ended up throwing her teammates out of the house when they saw them.

The windows reflected the last rays of the sun, turning into mirrors of a beautiful colour between pink and purple, and with the dark sky looming further behind, the view would be quite surprising to many artists.

Too bad they didn't come for that, she thought, tickling the door that led them inside to open.

* * *

"... And since the teacher is going to ask for the progress of the work every two weeks, we think about dividing the months by each subject, or well, family branch that we are going to touch, right Cal?" Veronica finished her lecture on the division of the work while looking at the others, who were sitting on the sofa in the living room.

''Yep. We start with the Blights, from there we go for Vera, Louis, Catherine and me.'' Calixto explained quickly as she took out a notebook full of notes and summarized what was there. "So, we would finish collecting the information in about five months, which would give us the other month to relate everything and write it in the essay that we will present.

"Uh, wait," Louis interrupted as he leaned back comfortably on the armrest of the curved couch they were sitting on. "If we're going to investigate the Blight first, why do we borrow the books then?"

Remembering how they were the first to borrow all the genealogical records from the library, Veronica snorted slightly. "Do you think if the others went there they would just leave them for others to read? I had you put on the waiting list for something, you know?''

The others fell silent before making expressions of alarm or in the case of Emira and Edric, of amusement. It was a pretty damaging plan for others, to say the least. With books on the subject in their possession for quite some time, they shouldn't worry about waiting for them or doing a worse job than everyone else.

As for her other classmates, it really didn't matter.

Veronica had always played her cards within the rules and that wouldn't bring her more problems than normal. Plus, you could always lend them for a moment. Or even rent them to people who were not your friends. Damn, a good chance to get some money.

A sly smile crossed her face as she thought about that, and she kept on while she began to explain other points. "Researching the Blight is going to take us a short time, we go through all the books we brought and the record you have," she directed her gaze towards both siblings who seemed to be doing anything but paying attention ''And you will be in charge of interviewing all the direct and living relatives you have.''

''Wait. What?''

"That wasn't what you told us we would do." Emira raised her eyebrow in curiosity as the other shifted in their positions, somewhat nervous.

"Yeah," Veronica crossed her arms nervously as she tried to be serious, "but I don't think we can do that, you know, because of our status quo."

''You could do it.'' Edric challenge “You're a Ryder, aren't you? Some of your relatives are acquaintances of my parents.''

Her smile faded before she covered her face with her hands and let out a sigh. ''I don't associate with stuffed shirts. And it's not like they are trying to have any remotely familiar relationship with me anyway.''

"That's true, her cousins in Glandus are total idiots." Calixto sputtered and the black-haired girl remembered the day she asked her friends to accompany her to the party the others had organized. End up being the victims of passive-aggressive comments and casual accidents wasn't the definition of a best night.

"Anyway, Cath and Lou," she said looking up at them, trying to avoid any more questions about that. "You will be in charge of asking the questions we will need for the entire field investigation, for now."

"Sure, boss." The Oracle boy snorted wearily.

"As long as they check for correctness, that's fine." Catherine purred as she shrugged.

"So what shall we do?" The green-haired boy smiled, pointing at himself and his sister, who glanced at him with an indecipherable expression. A mixture of confusion, annoyance and indifference, Veronica guessed with a bit of interest before focusing on concocting an answer.

"Well, my clones, Calixto and I will take care of going through the books for general ideas or something important in there, but I suppose they could help us with that." She offered as her friend began pulling out the books that everyone brought in their backpacks and placing them on the floor.

"Ugh, no. I pass.'' Emira said as she rolled her eyes at the thought of reading books.

Seeing how the other boy was reluctant to do it too, Veronica decided to make something easy for them and generously offered, "Then help Lou and Cath."

"Yeah sure."

Both siblings quickly approached the others, who were murmuring among themselves and had already started to write in their notebooks, which were placed on the centre table. Feeling satisfied, Veronica approached the small space that Calixto had chosen to put the books stacked in order.

"So, about five would be good for me, don't you think?" She said as she sat comfortably on the floor next to her friend, who had already started reading.

"Do you have enough notebooks to write down?" Asked laughing a little the one with braids while giving her a soft smile.

"Some paper can always be plucked."

"As long as your clones behave and don't take up much space." She shrugged to see the other.

"They always behave." She hummed while creating 5 copies of herself in front of both of them. They began to grab a book and start scanning, so Veronica busied herself with starting to tear the pages out of her notebook before grabbing one of her own.

* * *

"... Well, these two little ones are named Gwendolyn the Bone Crusher III and Oblivia the Bloody Duchess IV." The black-haired girl explained to the others with a strange sense of pride, pointing to both white and purple, and red with cream animals, respectively.

Although she did not know how they had managed to find the cage of her two pets, it really didn’t hurt anyone to tell them a little about them. It had already been an hour since they had arrived and since they were already finishing things, they took a little break to just get some rest.

"Can we touch them?" The green-haired boy asked with his eyes shining with some illusion as his sister rolled her eyes.

"Their names are obviously for something." Calixto said as she watched the two little rats sleep peacefully, not giving a damn about the fact that there were several people looking at them.

"They were the gift of a friend of my sister, but yes, their species is characterized by being quite dangerous for people they are not familiar with." Veronica commented while gently removing the boy's hand, who apparently wanted to caress them, ignoring purposely the pout that he made.

''Cool.''

"Yeah, they're pretty interesting animals." She said with a smile before clearing her throat nervously, "Anyway, since we're already finishing this, I'm going to bring some things so you can eat."

She turned and left them in the living room to go to the kitchen, trying to find something that was good and delicious enough to be considered a reward for her efforts. Normally no one would like to have to get together on a weekend to do something boring, after all.

She stopped thinking about it, she focused on continuing to search for some kind of snacks to give them, without imagining the things that would happen in the living room in the meantime.

"Hey, I'm going to the toilet."

"Yes, yes, it's on the second floor." The one with braids answered without paying too much attention to it, to continue muttering about the questions that the others had created ''We changed this for… Hey, don't put your hand inside the cage!'' Calixto exclaimed in exasperation when she saw how Louis was ignoring what Veronica had said.

''Dude, nothing's wrong, these little ones look harmless… Damn! The purple bit me!''

They heard the scream of the other boy, who was clutching his hand in pain in an attempt to prevent his blood from coming out, Catherine whispered in her only melancholic and gloomy tone, "Then you have chosen the path of death ... we should cut your finger before let their poison take effect on you.''

"Wow, I didn't know they had poison. Anyway, I think we should get bandages first, you're literally bleeding to death.'' Edric stammered nervously, who apparently had more common sense than the two Oracle boys.

Humming one of her favourite songs, Veronica walked into the room just to see that scene. "Guys, I brought some snacks and juice so… I told you not to disturb my pets!"

"You didn't say they bite!"

''Shut up! I'm going to tell Beatrice to come help us, so stay here and… wait.'' She stopped talking as she realized something quite important ''Where's Emira?''

"Uhm, in the toilet?" Edric answered hesitantly.

''Oh.'' She said while frowning suspiciously. Without wasting time, Veronica summoned her scroll and called out to the other girl, "Hey, I don't know much about healing, but you should wash your hand with water. You never know if they have poison.'' She mumbled to the other boy, waiting for her parents' apprentice to answer her call.

''Damn.''

"Yeah, things you get for ignoring what they tell you, idiot." She spluttered somewhat teasingly, opening the door to the garden, because she definitely didn't want the living room to get wet from water and other strange fluids.

"Well, we'll go out. Cath, Edric and I will take care of that.'' Said Calixto pushing them.

"I'm not good at that ..." The feline girl stammered without taking her eyes off the swollen finger of her track partner.

"Then you will be the moral support." Veronica said before going out with them and finding Beatrice with a worried expression.

Oh. So that's why she didn't answer.

"Hey Veronica, why did someone scream?" Beatrice ran her gaze over all of them, who were in a circle trying to wipe off Louis' finger, trying to find any clue as to what had happened.

''I was bitten by her pet...''

"He hurt himself, can you help him?" She mentioned smiling nervously, completely ignoring what the other boy was saying.

''Oh, sure.''

* * *

After the healing girl healed their friend, they went back to doing what they were doing. Clones reading, Veronica and Calixto correcting what the others did, and the others doing other important things, or well, not so important, considering that they were talking or playing something strange while they ate.

Everything was fine.

Except for something.

Why wasn't Emira coming back yet?

"Hey, Cal." She whispered as she looked at the other with wonder.

"What's wrong?" The one with braids asked, looking up and putting aside the pencil with which she corrected the things written in the notebook.

"What bathroom did you send Emira to?"

"The one on the second floor. Why?''

Oh, for the titan’s sake.

Veronica put her hand on her forehead, exhaling heavily as she closed her eyes tightly. If the runes her uncle sent to them worked perfectly, it was likely that the poor girl was completely lost on the second floor. When it wasn't even as big as a mansion. Which was partly funny, but not so much if you were in that position.

"I think she's lost. I'm going to see if it's okay.’’ She said as she stood up.

"That's... fine." Well, Veronica definitely couldn't ignore that Calixto was looking at her as if he was planning something up her sleeves.

Trying to explain herself briefly, she muttered before turning around, "My uncle gave us a gift to prevent intruders inside, he said it was the best he could do to protect us, since we didn't want to go to Ryder Manor."

Satisfied with that explanation, she went upstairs to see if Emira was anywhere.

* * *

Well, Veronica wasn't going to make fun of this.

No. She definitely wasn't going to.

Although seeing Emira walk in circles unable to get out of the powerful illusion caused by the runes and become more and more annoyed and frustrated (facet that she had never seen, Veronica noticed) when she couldn't find the place she wanted was a pretty funny scene that could be a comedy show, Veronica wasn't going to let her make a fool of herself any longer.

Fixing her glasses and clearing her throat a little, she approached behind the other at a reasonable distance to avoid hitting or physical confrontations and said relaxedly, "Hey Emira, just follow me, okay?"

The green-haired girl, shuddering a little and looked around in surprise, presumably because the illusion was over, before turning and coming face to face with Veronica.

"I had already found the bathroom, as you can see." She said with her characteristic tone of superiority (or condescension? Veronica hadn't paid much attention to that) as she smiled and pointed to the nearest door.

"That's not a bathroom. It's my parents' room.''

''Not. It is.''

Had the runes of illusion also confused her? Veronica wondered internally as she tried to decide what to do in that case. She would expect nothing more than runes created by the leader of the Illusions Coven, who was an acquaintance of her uncle and quite a ... joker, to say the least from what she had heard at family gatherings.

Seeing the other’s expression, Emira laughed a little and said, "You should see your face. It’s just a joke, relax."

"Ugh, I thought you had a side effect." She sighed in relief.

"About what stopped me from going to the bathroom? Nah, it was pretty simple to know that I was inside an illusion.''

"So why couldn't you get out of this one?"

"I think you esteem me very much, Veronica." Emira giggled as she leaned a bit on the direction of the black-haired girl.

"It was irony.'' She said ''You and your brother may be better than everyone in Hexside, but you wouldn't be able to beat a simple illusion from the leader of the Illusion Coven.''

''For now.'' She heard the other girl assure as she turned over and started to walk.

And well, Veronica already knew that. She wasn't an oblivious person, after all and everyone could see that the Blight twins are for far, the best illusionists of their age.

''Yes, whatever. Anyway, the bathroom is here.'' She pointed out after reaching a door.

After she waited a moment leaning against the wall, Veronica heard the door open and the other girl came out, smoothing her hair with her hands. Well, his duty here was over, he thought as he started walking to go where the others were.

"So, how did your family get that kind of illusion?" The girl asked curiously, and Veronica stopped to turn around and see the other and know what her intentions were with that question.

With a bit of suspicion, she murmured, "My uncle brought it as a gift. I guess he wanted to impress me into persuading my mother to live at Ryder Manor.’’

"Not that you don't live there?"

"Clearly. Orders from the former head of the family, Julia Ryder." She rolled her eyes while remembering the sly and intelligent woman that she used to call grandmother.

‘’Oh, what an interesting information.’’ Emira said opening her eyes with surprise. ‘’Why did she do that?’’

"I mean, being a Ryder is synonymous with abominations, illusions, bards and even potions. Similar to your family, as far as I know. But since my dad like healing, he was not well received by my grandmother.’’ She said briefly thinking that it actually was a more complex problem than just studying Healing. Still, that wasn’t something anyone outside her family and close friends should know.

"Wow. That’s… brutal.’’

‘’Exact. Anyway, that's the summarized reason why I don't like my family and how we get these rare runes.’’ Veronica concluded joining her palms with a loud clap. ‘’They could be called consolation for us, although on my dad's side, He'd be happy if everything went back to the way it was before. Which is disgusting.’’

Seeing how she seemed to have talked a lot, she fell silent and they continued down the stairs in silence. The echo of their footsteps resounded softly around the place and when they finished going down, Veronica was very surprised to see her sister, who apparently had arrived in those 8 minutes that they were delayed upstairs, speak pleasantly with her teammates.

Her eyes met her sister's, and with a chill down her spine, she knew that the other was definitely not happy about having unwanted guests in the house.

Damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this looks like filler and it's obvious that I didn't plan it that much, but everything will make sense next chapter, which will be awesome. Wait for it ;;
> 
> Looking back on my 7th grade, I had a classmate who was quite similar to my idea of the Blight twins.
> 
> He was an interesting person. I didn't like him because he didn't have good grades, never participated in group works, was also quite annoying and liked to make jokes. He once stuck his finger in a metal fan just to challenge us to do the same. It didn't end well. In fact, the shoes of my friends ended up full of his blood. IUGH.
> 
> Anyway, he was good as a person. He had a pretty normal and funny personality when he wasn't doing silly things, and he was also a cool kid who had cordial relationships with everyone (not actual friends, but idk why). 
> 
> Even with that, being with him in a group was literally the nightmare of all of us because he wasn't responsible and also didn't know almost anything about the school stuff. So, I took him as a reference to make the Blights, but they are not bad students (like, they actually have a lot of talent and know many things), they just lack of responsibility XD.
> 
> Leave your kudos and comments if you like this weird stuff I'm doing!〔´∇ ｀〕


	4. Grom night and its (un)fortunate events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Veronica, Grom's party was supposed to be a fun event to spend with her friends. As always, life never gives her what she wants. 
> 
> The normal anxiety before the announcement, the consecuence of an stupid action taken by her friend's boyfriend and the terrofic moment when an unexpected thing happened in the Arena.
> 
> Is there something good between all the unfortunate circumstances that she has to experience?

It was only a few minutes until Grom's announcement, and expectation was in the air.

No one had a clue who that year's Grom royalty would be, and Veronica hoped with all her might not to be. She knew herself well enough to say that she was still not brave enough to face her worst fears in front of everyone.

We could say that she was trying slowly. Risking to illegally sell drawings on Hexside and doing everlasting oaths with strangers wasn't the best definition of the activities she would normally do, but it was good practice to avoid being the same fearful person as she always was.

She hated being afraid.

Yeah, that had saved her from doing things that would definitely end badly, but it had also prevented her of having experiences that all normal persons had had and made her miss opportunities that she could never get back.

Still, she could recognize that fear or fearless, Grometheus the Fear Bringer was not just any monster to fight. Her sister, the person she had always viewed as invincible, had ended up with disorders and traumas that required more than simply being able to face your worst fears in front of a crowd.

And well, she may have been the fastest and greatest royalty in all of Hexside's history to defeat Grom, but at what cost?

Just remembering that made Veronica shiver. She didn't want to change her behaviour to one that was paranoid, depressed, and even _violent_ , or ending having much more fear than she had. Veronica simply wanted to continue her normal life. As normal as it might be in Bonesborough, at least.

Ordinary experiences for an ordinary witch, as it should be.

And that definitely didn't include facing Grom.

* * *

‘’ ... This year, I have the privilege to bestow our highest Grom honor to Amity Blight. Our Grom Queen.’’

Veronica felt a weight lift off her shoulders when she heard the name announced over the speakers.

It was better to let powerful witches face powerful beings, right?

Between the soft murmurs of students gossiping about the recent announcement and the sounds of hurried footsteps from some kids who were late for their classes, she stopped rambling through her thoughts to pay attention to what her friends were talking about.

"… I'm telling you; Maximilian is trying again and it's pretty sweet of him to be my date at Grom." Veronica heard Calixto emphasize as she crossed her arms and looked at them with an expression that seemed like a mixture of a pout and a smile.

"Oh, come on," Jessira rolled her eyes mockingly, "didn't you break up last month?"

Before the girl with braids could say anything, Marianne mentioned, "I still remember how you told us how he stopped answering you on Penstagram and no longer accompanied you home."

"And we'll never forget how you squeaked for weeks because of it," Eric added as he gave her a mocking smile and ran his hand through his blue hair. Calixto said nothing, but her gaze said it all. She wasn't particularly upset, but the exasperation was evident.

Just like every normal day.

Well, Veronica had to admit that the fact that Calixto resumed her relationship with Maximilian had made her much more cheerful and relaxed than she normally was. Relationships seemed like a good way to de-stress from school and all the homework they had, she thought curiously.

Too bad that none of the other four, including her, had anyone special to be with at Grom.

"Is better that your Grom date is someone you like and not just a friend." She said with a depressing air that she instantly invaded three other who were also in her situation.

"Don't mentioned it, now I'm just going with Kate and Hexter ..."

"And I'm going with Eric because I told the Oracle guys if I could get a date...''

The brunette said dismissively and the boy, who had been amusing himself at the expense of the other, frowned irritably.

"You're the one who asked me to join you in the first place."

"Still, I was supposed to go with someone I was interested in," she said with a melodramatic sigh before rolling her eyes and adding, "and not with my unrelated brother by blood whom I have known completely since we were in diapers."

"She has a point in that. If I were to go with either of you on a date, it would be pretty pitiful.'' Veronica said calmly closing her eyes, before opening them and nervously clarifying "No offense, of course. But the five of us have been stuck together like bread and butter, and we should go out of our bounds.''

"Well, I was supposed to ask Priscilla to be my date." The boy muttered resentfully.

That would have been a splendid idea, she thought, remembering that the girl of Plants was going with her sister and other friends like every year. Too bad the plan had to be ruined by a small complication with the person Jessira wanted to go with.

"And I wanted to tell Christopher to be my date as friends." The girl with curls said as she gave her a penetrating look.

Veronica swallowed hard before giggling with a bit of guilt. "You should have asked him before. We had already agreed to go together a long time ago.''

"I hadn't thought you'd go together; you know...''

The Oracle girl didn't finish her sentence when Calixto interrupted wearily. "Oh, come on. There are quite a few people who wouldn't mind going with you, why are you fighting over Chris?''

Well, Veronica didn't expect her friend to think that way. _Fight for Christopher?_ Ha! Not in her worst nightmares.

Their relationship was one of friendship and was practically based on the confidence they had when recounting their disappointments in love (Only on the part of the boy, of course, she tried to deceive herself). They going to Grom together meant nothing more than the fact that she didn't interact much with her classmates to ask one of them to be her date.

Which was pathetic too, but at least not unpleasant.

"Ugh no!" They both exclaimed at the same time making faces of indignation that made the other three laugh.

Veronica cleared her throat and looking at her track partner, she said something annoyed ''We're just going as friends. If I hadn't asked him for that favour, I'd probably end up being in Grom with one of your friends. And we would end up sitting completely silent. An uncomfortable one.''

"It's the same for me too," Jessira nodded with conviction before adding. ''But it would be an awkward dance. I have no idea how everyone I've ever talked to than you end up being people who hate standing still somewhere. Chris is the only one who doesn't mind doing anything.

"Well, there are always options, you have your own friends." The blue haired boy muttered. Veronica didn't deny having friends or colleagues that she liked, but they all already had people in mind, and she wasn't bad enough to ruin their night.

However, she couldn't answer when Marianne sighed. "And in case you don't remember, I have many friends who fit the terms you ask for and even so, you never want me to introduce them." Marianne pouted as she crossed her arms and said ''For example, Vera, you and Hexter could have gone together and it wouldn't have been a problem for both of you.''

The black-haired girl shuddered internally. Agnes Hexter was the closest thing to crush in her entire life (although it was only for a short period of time in 8th grade) and her friends always loved to remind her of it as if it were the event of the century. Although perhaps it was, after all, no person had been more interesting and cooler to her than that girl from Bards.

Anyway, she considered her more as someone ideal or a model to follow, and never thought of being anything more than friends or acquaintances. There was a term for it, she tried to remember before telling herself that it wasn't important to know.

"Just because we get along doesn't mean she or someone else is happy to be with me at Grom," Veronica said sincerely as she exhaled. ''After all, it is an important date and we are not even close friends to go together.''

"It doesn't matter being friends, love can develop with the most unexpected people," Calixto affirmed with confidence.

"I don't need love," Jessira said exaggeratedly before leaning back with a sad face on Eric. "All I need is someone to show those idiots called my trackmates that I can get a date."

"And here I am, fulfilling my duty as a good friend. Without waiting for you to despise me like a stray animal”, he snorted as he pushed her aside. 

"Come on, we have to stop resenting each other," the redhead said with a serious face before relaxing and teasing a bit. "What Eric and Jessira need in the long term is not love, but good grades and some luck to not have difficult homework...''

"Something you need too, Ann. You three stress too much to get good grades on tests only to make up for what you don't do all semester.'' Veronica mentioned adding some more fuel to the fire for the other two boys and trying to tease the short girl.

"That's true," the braided girl nodded thoughtfully, "you are not always going to be helped by charitable souls."

"Not that you two are helpful enough." The boy responded sulkily looking at the two girls from Illusions, who obviously had an impeccable record of good grades.

"Well, sorry for not doing your essays and homew..."

The bell rang softly, interrupting what it was saying and surprising everyone. Unbeknownst to them, they had spent a lot of time talking and didn't realize they were running late for their classes.

Damn, they should have volunteered for the Grom Decoration Committee.

* * *

Time had flown by and the party was already beginning.

Veronica pulled her date, Christopher, by the hand trying to make him walk quickly in the direction of his friends. They had both arrived quite a long time ago due to the boy being in charge of overseeing the decorations before the party, and after that, they were left wandering all over Hexside.

It was a good half hour of fun, she thought, remembering the stupid things they did out there, but even so, it was time for Grom night and apart from having a good time with her friends, she also wanted to show the beautiful outfit that she had chosen with great care to this year.

Her hairstyle was her usual, a ponytail that gripped every strand of black hair she had, but a metal headband with simple patterns adorned her head and gave her facial features a different touch. On top of that, she wore a short white lace top dress and a silver flared skirt that reached a little above her knees. The latter, along with the kitten heels she was wearing, made her legs appear longer.

If she stood next to Chris, who had reluctantly agreed to go the same colours as her, she could tell that they could even pretend to be a real couple and no stranger would pick up on the lie. Too bad that idea was interesting though, unworkable due to the fact that she still respected herself enough, and because the other boy wanted to get the attention of Sophie, a pretty girl from Potions.

"Hey guys!" She raised her hand in their direction as she smiled and walked faster.

"Oh, you look good." Calixto approached and praised them above-board. She was wearing a pink dress with sparkles and she looked beautiful as always, however, something that surprised Veronica was that her friend was alone with Jessira and Eric, and her date was nowhere to be seen.

"Thanks, dude. You look perfect too.'' She said sincerely while giving her a big smile. After that, she turned to see the other two and passed her gaze analysing their clothes and a little surprised, she laughed ''You also look unexpectedly good.''

''Oh thanks. I suppose.'' Eric snorted with a smile moving a bit awkwardly instead. He was wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and a lavender tie, which matched the colour of the other's suit.

"I didn't think your mom would let you wear a suit while she was alive." Christopher mentioned with some amazement giving the brunette a small side smile.

"If I could get some piercings without her consent," Jessira said slowly, pointing to her ears and smirking, "then I can also come to Grom in a suit."

"Nothing is impossible, as you always say." The girl in pink dress rolled her eyes.

Jessira winked in response. "That's right, girl."

"Where's Maximilian anyway?" Veronica changed the subject as she looked around.

"Well, he went to get some drinks..."

Calixto couldn't finish when Jessira interrupted her sighing sarcastically. "He went for a walk around because he was uncomfortable enough with us and it was more than he could bear to be with you too."

They all laughed or failed to hold on, in the case of her date, when Calixto seemed somewhat angry about it. It was no secret that the Construction boy feared them since they threatened him when he started dating their friend.

Calixto crossed her arms and sighed wearily. "He really went to get drinks, stop making fun of him."

"Well, it's not like it's not true." Chris muttered with a shrug.

The fact that he said it while being direct and at the same time funny was something they appreciated quite a bit. The blonde looked like them in quite a few ways and it was comfortable to have him around because he didn't take things seriously. That was important as a quality in events like this one.

"See, Calixto?" The bluehead approached the other boy and put his arm over his shoulders showing him confidence ''Even people not involved in it can see that.''

"It's still not something we should talk so openly about." She said sternly. ''You wouldn't like someone to do the same to you, and Max can feel bad about you mocking him.''

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Veronica said before smiling at them. "I think we're generous enough not to say anything to him tonight."

"Yes, I think we can do that." Jessira put her hands on her waist ''But you should tell him not to take it all personally.''

"Uh-huh, we're working on that." The other answered honestly.

Suddenly, the music began to play softly from the stage, announcing that the event had already officially started.

"I think I'll go find him to dance." Calixto mentioned blushing a little and walking in other direction.

"So, who wants to keep making fun of Maximilian?" Eric asked in a flat and mocking tone when he saw that the other girl was far enough away to not hear him.

"We have to find a place to sit." Veronica smiled knowingly looking at them.

Everything seemed to be going great so far.

* * *

There was little left until the main event of the night according to the MC and well, excitement washed over Veronica as she waited impatiently to see who would face Grom this year. There was a rumour that circulated quite quickly among everyone, where it was said that Amity Blight gave the position of Grom Queen to the new human student.

An interesting twist of fate, if you asked for her opinion.

Although she really didn't care so much who fought with Grom. What was really crucial was that this person be able to defeat it and prevent everyone from experiencing their worst nightmares. After all, that was the main goal of the entire event.

"Hey, it's only a few minutes before everything starts." Jessira sat next to her as she chewed on some bubble gum she had gotten from one of her Oracle friends she was talking to earlier.

''What a thrill! Don't you think, Max?'' Calixto smiled at the boy who was sitting next to him, hugging his arm. They were a few steps lower than Veronica and they arrived a few moments ago after dancing.

"Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch." The boy affirmed, nodding his head gently. "I have a feeling they might not be able to defeat it...''

"Come on, are you from Oracle?" She leaned a little in their direction to tease them a bit.

Maximilian shrugged with a grimace. "Well, it's likely to happen, you never know."

''And doing adivination to know it always makes everything boring, you just have to wait for it to happen.'' The brunette snorted with some weariness as she took off her jacket.

"It would still be interesting to know everything about the future, wouldn't it?" Eric imagined with some interest.

"Oh, trust me, it's not that pretty." Chris said as he put his arms behind his head and leaned back a bit.

Veronica recalled that the boy had been at Oracle before switching to Bards because apparently he felt that learning to see the future from death was not attractive. She was certainly not that interested in it either because of that (such a terrifying and kind of sad thing) and many could say the same if asked why they didn't study that.

"Hey.''

The black-haired girl stopped thinking about it when she heard Calixto call her attention.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at the Blight," She whispered loud enough that only they would hear. "I think their dates didn't come, poor little things."

Veronica pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and narrowed her eyes to find her trackmates among the few people sitting in the stands of the other side. It was a bit difficult due to the lights being dimmed, but when she found them, she realized that they looked pretty normal.

"What about that?" Eric snorted carelessly.

"They look like usual. I think you're exaggerating a bit.'' She giggled.

"No, I'm not." The one in the pink dress frowned before explaining why she thought that. ''Marianne told me that they asked some guys from Plants to go to Grom and Naomi, who is from Plants, confirmed it in her own words and also said that one of the was a dual-track boy.''

Jessira looked at her with a puzzled expression and murmured "And what do you want us to do, congratulate them?"

''Oh, come on.'' She rolled her eyes as she stood looking directly at Veronica and Christopher. ''Some of you two, who talk to them more, could go and accompany them. It is sad that their dates haven't yet arrived, and they are alone.''

''What? No, no, no.'' She denied sharply. ''If they seem sad to you and you want to do your, I don't know, charity action because you feel pity for them, do it yourself.'' Veronica said crossing her arms and looking to the side.

"Exactly, Calixto. Don't be afraid, they won't bite you'' Christopher laughed running his hand through his blond hair.

"Hush, stop fighting." Maximilian addressed them before doing something completely unexpected. ''I'm going to make it easier for you. Emira, Edric! Could you come here?''

" _What are you doing?!_ " They all hissed at the same time, their eyes wide in amazement.

''You couldn't decide, so I called them.'' He shrugged as he got up together with Calixto. "Oh, look, here they come, now it's your turn." He said walking quickly and getting further and further away from where they were.

Oh, bloody hell.

* * *

Veronica really didn't know how she ended up in this situation. In less than a second, all her friends disappeared and left her and Christopher, who were the ones apparently more clueless and slower to react, there.

_What were they supposed to do now?!_

She clenched her hands into fists as she thought about what to do. It was impossible for them to leave as shamelessly as the others did, especially when in fact, the only ones left there. She and the boy looked at each other nervously without saying a word. They both knew they had to fend for themselves, but they had no idea how.

''Ok, it's Ok.'' She breathed slowly in an attempt to calm herself down. '' We should mention something that isn't so intrusive but also not so irrelevant, any ideas?''

"Well, we should make those idiots pay after we get out of this." Christopher gritted his teeth before gave her a somewhat hesitant smile. ''And maybe we should talk about what they know about the human, u know, everyone has heard that they know each other.''

''That's a good idea...''

Watching the Blight twins grow closer and closer, Veronica concentrated on hearing the MC of that moment introduce the Grom Queen of that year.

"...You know her, you love her, at least you've heard of her, Luz, the human!''

Good luck for the first time in a while. Now it wouldn't be weird to talk about someone who apparently had nothing to do with it at the time because this person, _Luz_ , had become the Grom Queen.

"Hey, what happened?" Both siblings asked curiously as they sat on the side of the blonde.

The Bards boy cleared his throat and said pointing at her. ''Well, Veronica wanted to ask you something important.''

Oh, _you bloody traitor,_ she thought when she heard the boy brazenly pass the ball to him. Veronica smiled somewhat stiffly as she tried to ignore the cheers from the others to quickly organize what she was supposed to say.

Avoiding eye contact with the other three, Veronica rested her arms on her legs, bending down a little to fix her gaze on the human girl who entered the Hexside Arena ''We've heard that you guys have met the human, and as the rumour spread that she would face Grom, which now we know is real, we are, uhm, quite curious about how she does magic.''

"Then you better watch it and find out for yourself." Veronica saw out of the corner of her eye how Emira winked her eye in mystery.

"Yeah, it something cool, Luz has a rather strange way of performing magic." Edric added before paying attention to what was done in the Arena.

Christopher was the first to notice. "Wait ... is that a paper?''

It looked so simply, a circle with something inside and nothing similar to the complicated runes of some magic scrolls that she wondered if it was going to work.

"Wow." Her eyes shone with admiration and surprise when she managed to visualize that indeed, it was real magic ''I never imagined that someone could do it like that.''

The unfolding battle was interesting and even funny at times. She had never imagined that someone's fears could be related to human souls trapped in cats or jerks online that they want to debate. If it continued that way, they really wouldn't be in danger that year.

"Oh, this is too easy to be true." She muttered softly to herself, not caring if the others were listening.

"Take a good look, Veronica." Her friend said in the direction of the monster. ''It is transforming into the Owl Lady.''

Edric replied in a somewhat monotonous tone, completely focused on what was happening. ''Yeah, her biggest fear is supposed to be not being deemed fit by her...''

"Wait, Ed." The girl in the yellow dress stopped him with a somewhat surprised tone, before mentioning ''it is turning into something else.''

The four of them saw perfectly how a door appeared and out of it came a lady who had features similar to the girl. Her mother, apparently. Veronica was dying of curiosity of what would happen next.

However, everything happened so fast and what no one had expected became true.

Grom had escaped.

* * *

She had never thought that would happen, but to her surprise, she wasn't worried about it. It must have been the shock, she thought with boredom and some resignation as she sighed.

What was supposed to happen right now? Would everyone in Boiling Isles have to suffer from their worst fears? Well, you couldn't have everything in this life and it was obvious that one day it would have to happen. Accidents could not be prevented, and they only had to wait for some miracle to happen so that someone could contain Grom before it was too late.

_Wait. This seriously shouldn't have happened._

She felt an electric current run through her entire body when she realized what had really happened. Cold sweat began to form on her forehead and her face turned somewhat pale as the panic invaded her. She clenched her hands, which were cold and weak, in an attempt to calm the feeling of anxiety that was growing inside her.

"... Tell me this is a joke, dude." Veronica managed to stammer in a choked tone.

''Well, apparently not.'' The blonde said seeing her surprised. After saying that, he added with some amusement while laughing a bit, "Unless Principal Bump wanted to add a surprise event to tonight."

" _Oh, for the titan._ "

The black-haired girl grabbed the other's hand to squeeze it with all the strength she had, a part of her was scared, and another wanting to hit the boy for joking about this kind of thing.

"Hey, are you okay? You have the temperature of a corpse,” He sighed before saying with some annoyance. ''Should I lend you my jacket?''

"Jacket?!" She whispered in an angry and incredulous tone. "What I want the least is a jacket at this moment! How could Grom get away?!'' The girl ran her hands over her face with despair.

"Come on, calm down. It will probably be fixed shortly.''

"I don't understand why you and I think everyone here is so relaxed if a monster just escaped from school. A monster that shows you your worst fears!''

"Calm down, dude." That was the only response the boy gave her, and Veronica swore that if he asked her to calm down again, she was definitely going to get mad. ''It may show you your worst fears, but at least it doesn't kill you. What are you so scared of?” He rolled her eyes in amusement. ''Look at the Blights, they're so calm like nothing happened, aren't they guys?''

Veronica blushed when she remembered that both green-haired siblings had been close and had obviously seen how desperate she was because of the incident that had occurred. She was a bit embarrassed about it, but still considered the reaction of the others to be insane. Being so calm after that was weird.

''I suppose.'' Edric shrugged. ''There is so much going on in Bonesborough that really nothing is that surprising.''

Well, he had a point.

"It only remains to hope that it will happen." Emira smiled with an indecipherable expression. ''Although I suppose she will beat Grom in the end.''

"Yes..." She sighed tiredly. She wondered why the other seemed so sure of it, as if she knew the human could do it. ''Yeah, we must assume that not everyone is that incompetent…, no offense to your, uhm, friend?''

"Nah, that may be the first impression Luz can make. But in reality she is someone who can come to surprise you a lot.'' Emira answered giving her a smile that showed that she knew something they didn't. It seemed like she was remembering something interesting, and Veronica admitted that she was somewhat intrigued by it.

"Well, I'll wait for it." She responded with a calmer tone, trying to believe her and to compose herself from the fear that suddenly.

"I believe them, there have been stories about the human having adventures and unimaginable all over the place." Chris mentioned as it was something everyone knew about. And perhaps it was so, although she was not so aware of it. "Anyway, why did you go crazy about that?" He nudged her gently with interest. "Your sister beat Grom, I don't think it's impossible for you in the worst case."

"Are your worst fears really that difficult to face?"

Hearing the green-haired boy ask that and seeing how the three seemed to want to know more about it, Veronica ran a hand through her hair as she sighed.

"I… I don't know, after all, I've never been in that situation. But I know myself well enough to say that it would affect me a lot.'' After saying that, she added with a murmur that she hoped, wouldn’t reveal the deity feeling she felt when comparing herself to her sister. ‘’I am not as invincible as Lucia.’’

''Oh, come on.'' The blonde snorted in amusement ''You are, by far, one of the best illusionists of our age along with you two,'' he looked at both boys beside him before saying something as if it were the secret of success, ''you just lack confidence.''

She rolled her eyes. Clearly she knew that.

And from experience, just knowing that wasn't enough, if so, I probably would have fixed it long ago. And Veronica wanted to tell him that, that she was trying. That she was trying with all her might every day to be more confident and to stop being insecure, and that she had improved much more than before and that she was still doing it slowly, but she couldn't say anything about it.

Because she knew and had already accepted deep down in her heart that even if she might be quite good at something, she would never be the best. Just one more person in the pile, so to speak. But it would be embarrassing to say it out loud in front of them.

Swallowing, she managed to say dryly with a tone of resignation "There are always people more talented than yourself." Noticing that her mind began to wander into negative thoughts, she giggled before giving a uncomfortably smile. "Anyways, I suppose you know enough about your fears to be able to relax now."

"Being an illusionist requires knowing yourself well, right?" The green-haired boy snorted in a friendly tone before proposing something that surprised her ''We can tell you our worst fears if you tell us yours.''

His sister didn't seem enthusiastic about it, staring at him for a long time with blank eyes, perhaps expecting him to retract it.

Unlike Emira, Veronica was perplexed, with a growing curiosity that overcame her and made her accept the deal. ''Oh well ... You guys first.''

"Be alone forever."

"... Be stuck with Ed forever."

A hint of disappointment crossed the boy's eyes upon hearing his sister's response, and it didn't go unnoticed by the other two. Veronica was intrigued but didn't want to ask any more questions about it, since even if they were track partners, she didn't think they were close enough to tell them about it.

"That's a pretty common thing, so to speak." She said trying to comfort the boy a bit, who had already returned to his normal expression. "Fear of always being with the people you know but also of being alone ..." Veronica sighed softly as she thought of her friends. She shook her head, pushing those thoughts away, and honestly said with embarrassment, "Anyway, I guess my biggest fear would be not being able to control my emotions."

"It can't be, you must be kidding." Chris snorted sceptically. ''Only that? I thought you'd say something like dying painfully, that's terrifying.'' He ended up pretending to tremble with fear, although he could see that deep down, that was his greatest fear.

"Well, if I don't control my emotions, I may end up hurting others. Especially the people I love, which was for a long time, something that terrified me.'' She laughed trying not to care, although the old image she had of her sister merging with her own appeared in her mind, as if in the end, she was just like her.

_A bully._

''Seriously?''

Hearing how Edric question her, Veronica said, "Well, you sure don't know, but I always end up hurting or making someone uncomfortable. Like when I got mad and stuck a pencil in Eric's hand, or when I slapped a girl from Abomination because she said something that offended me.'' She finished saying laughing a little and scratching his face with a grimace.

She remembered that Eric ended up acting as if nothing had happened but instead of making her feel relieved, she only made the feeling of guilt and shame grow, which lasted for several years until it simply became a somewhat uncomfortable but funny anecdote. In the other case, well, she didn't blame her much because they weren't close (and the other girl was so arrogant that she deserved it a bit) but the experience was a rock in her shoe when she was feeling depressed.

"Well, that sounds pretty normal to me." The girl in the yellow dress affirmed as she crossed her arms, "We always end up hurting people in some way or another."

"It's normal until you end up feeling like you're the worst person in the world for doing that." Veronica snorted disgust. ''Seriously, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. It's horrible to be unable to hurt or have normal reactions when you're angry or terrified because you're going to feel bad about it.''

"It certainly sounds horrible."

"But isn't it just feeling too guilty?"

"Exactly, you could go to the counsellor and they could help you. Or in any case, you could try to solve it yourself, I think there are even some spells...''

Veronica knew that she shouldn't let them get into it so much, because it was a boring business and Grom was supposed to have a fun time, so she cut him off. ''Yes, I'm trying to solve it by myself, but it is easier to control my reactions than to try to fix something after I have spilled the milk. So not being able to do it became my worst fear.''

"That is true, after all." Chris sighed in the same tone he used when wanting to start a debate and Veronica knew that if they didn't stop right then she and the Blight would probably end up trapped and forced to debate something quite inappropriate for Grom with him.

"Come on, let's not get depressed." The black-haired girl laughed nervously as she tried to change the subject, before a brilliant idea occurred to him. ''It's supposed to be a party, so why don't we go dance?'' She said nervously while pointing the dance floor, which had already returned to normal.

Veronica didn't know what prompted her to say this, but the fact that she talked about it with her trackmates and that they hadn't teased her, made her confidence grow and she came up with something bold in an attempt to avoid breaking her brain debating with her date ''We can even trade dates.''

Although her friend had said that their dates had stood them up, they could know what she was referring to, right?

''Really? how?''

Veronica giggled a little before saying.

''You guys together, and Emira and me.''

* * *

Emira seemed to have her mind elsewhere. Although she had only asked to be with her for other selfish intentions (not so much, it had also helped the other girl to escape from a heated debate and well, regarding her brother... there should always be small sacrifices, right?), she didn't want to stay in completely silence while they were dancing automatically in the dance floor.

She had had enough experience before to add one more to the list.

Trying to break the silence that had formed, Veronica said with a nervous smile "So, what are those experiences that make you affirm that the human can or has already defeated, considering that the basement was closed, to Grom?"

''Uhm'', Emira blinked somewhat surprised upon hearing her question ''before the start of classes, I had gone with my siblings to the Knee and I met her and the Owl Lady, there...''

While the green-haired girl recounted what she had experienced in a friendly tone, without caring to give more details about it, and Veronica felt more comfortable and confident with her to talk more and more. She asked all sorts of things that she was curious to know about, and the other had no reservations about telling what the other wanted to know, and even more.

She could claim that it was indeed an incredible night.

She had never imagined that she could speak with such confidence to someone like Emira Blight, especially since she and her siblings seemed in one way or another, reserved people, as if there was a wall between them and the other Hexside students.

However, in that short time, Veronica felt as if she really began to know her, and she forgot all the prejudices and gossips she knew about the other. Maybe those were one of the causes of feeling so mysterious and unapproachable, she thought.

Well, Emira was an interesting and friendly person and that why she even forgot that she was angry with her friends for calling them.

"… In the end, we had to create our own water and…" Veronica shuddered and laughed in surprise, stopping speaking when she felt the other girl's hand move a little on her shoulder. "Hey! Do not do that. It gives me tickles.''

"Who is tickled to be touched on the shoulder?" The other laughed, moving her fingers with the obvious intention of continuing to bother her. Before I could answer, the green-haired girl pouted. "Besides, we've been dancing for a while now and my arms are numb.''

"Don't you think mine are too?" She huffed, raising her eyebrows. ''But I'd rather keep dancing than watch Chris try to show his dominance in the debate with your brother.''

"Debates?"

''Oh yeah. Chris had the same expression that he always uses when he wants to beat someone he does not know, and I had to choose which one of you to save from their clutches. And'', she winked playfully ''I think I made a good choice.''

"Damn, I should thank you for that, then." The yellow-eyed girl smiled charmingly. "I hate having to talk about boring things for no reason and I still remember how we had to do it in a whole year of Illusions 101."

"Well, debating has its good points when you have a topic that you are passionate about or when you like to win." Veronica chuckled, then looked the other girl straight in the eye and smiled. ''If you are interested, you can enter as an unofficial member, just like me.''

Her eyes were the colour of light amber, just like the crystalline mineral her sister had brought her from one of her trips. Veronica remembered how it contained a butterfly inside and how curious it was despite the fact that according to Lucia, it was quite common. She supposed it could be used to describe the green-haired amber eyes, common, but still pretty. Not like her dark blue eyes, which from a distance looked black and were hardly conspicuous.

Veronica stopped rambling and gently looked away as she heard the other chuckling. ''Nah dude. I don't want to become someone who wants to argue with everyone she meets.''

"Debate is not the same as arguing. But it would be funny to see you doin..."

She was talking when she heard footsteps addressing both of them and the well-known voice of his friend from Bards.

"Hey, I just saw those idiots come from going to see how Grom was defeated, do you want to have our revenge or are you afraid?"

They both stopped dancing and when Veronica saw how the other didn't seem to be lying, the corners of her mouth began to rise, showing a big malicious smile. "Of course, I'm going to have it, I still haven't forgotten what they did." She said before turning to the other girl and asking (her and her brother, obviously) "Do you want to come?"

Edric whispered something in Emira's ear. Veronica didn't hear well, but it was something about their dates, besides the mention of some names and other things that were intelligible.

Both siblings ended up having intense eye contact for a few seconds before the girl sighed and rejected her offer. ''I'd like to, but we have to keep waiting for our Grom dates. Besides'', she leaned closer to whisper softly in her ear, "Ed definitely doesn't want to be around your date again because he's a demon when he speaks.'' She finished saying holding back her laughter and turning around.

Well, Veronica guessed something had happened to make him refuse to go with them to do something was definitely hilarious.

Still, with her first offers rejected, she said bravely ''You're cool, girl. Let's gather someday, ok?''

''Ok, see you later, sweetie.''

"Have a great time with your Grom dates!"

Veronica said goodbye waving her hand, without realizing that what she had done was something that would impact her in the next few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I just finally finish this :')
> 
> Anyways, yeah, we can say that Emira and Vera are just like in a friendship, there will be a more longer time lapse between chapters (i mean, not in the posting, that will be as always) so we can accelerate a bit more the development of the story.
> 
> I based this chapter in how I befriended my friend's sister just by talking and dancing with her a little time in a party lol. She's great and I think making friends in parties is a good way to do it. Of course it doesn't always work (once my friend, on who i based calixto, made me dance with a guy and it was so uncomfortable lol), but when it does is like wow B)))
> 
> PS: Yeah, summarizing it, Vera has a light trauma with a kind of experiential avoidance, which makes her want to avoid thoughts, or any experiences related to her trauma, which is hurting someone (just like her sister did to her). 
> 
> This, well, is particulary caused bc she is a highly sensitive person and also had a very controlled panic disorder (I'm not a psychologist but I went there for my sessions and basically Vera is similar to me lol)
> 
> Leave your kudos and comments if you like this weird stuff I'm doing!〔´∇ ｀〕


	5. Of petrifications and rebellious attitudes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why there are no normal days in Bonesborough? Veronica asked herself with anger after knowing a big news.
> 
> Oh, let’s just forget about family today! Veronica said internally after screwing the things with her cousins.
> 
> Am I going to die today? That’s the last thing she asked herself before fainting.
> 
> Everything is so crazy, and Veronica is tired about it. If weird things happen every day, let’s better get accustomed to it, right?

Finally ending the last day of school for the week, Veronica Ryder sighed in relief as she walked through the city streets in the direction of her home.

Barely a week had passed since Grom and the teachers had no mercy on students, filling them with assignments and projects that were definitely going to consume a lot of their time. At least she had an effective plan for that situation, which was repeated every semester and promised to lower the grades of the most procrastinators like her three best friends (apart from Calixto, obviously).

However, she wasn't thrilled at the very idea of doing it.

Although it was obvious that hardly anyone would be happy if they had to spend the entire afternoon doing school things just to have the weekend off. A weekend in which she probably couldn't go out for a walk with friends, and in which she would still have to carry out another project with her teammates.

They hadn't even let them go to Emperor's Castle as a reward for putting up with so long! Veronica thought as she tried to control her discouragement and tried unsuccessfully to convince herself that it was going to be a good weekend. Veronica would have loved to do an Illusions project or something that would really serve her for the future, not boring and pointless things like knowing the family lineage.

Anyway, at least she had as teammates people she considered as friends. And the Blight, with whom she had a... strange relationship since Grom. It was difficult to categorize what type it was, Veronica thought with a slight frown. But she was sure it was a good one. During that week they had interacted many more times than in all their previous years and Veronica found they were quite pleasant despite her first impression of them.

Still, whether she considered them friends or not, well, it was hard to say. All of her friends were people with whom she had known for years or interacted enough to care for them. And Emira and Edric were people she had to fully understand first before even thinking about it. The cons could easily outweigh the good things if you didn't. After all, both siblings were Blights.

Oh wait, her thoughts were going to the side she didn't want to touch at the moment, Veronica realized. She shook her head trying to get rid of them and concentrated on walking faster in the direction of her house.

* * *

She walked through the front door, minutes after she found her parents' office completely closed despite being on normal hours. Veronica wondered what was going on to make that happen. Her parents had just returned from visiting their maternal family and according to what she knew, they wouldn't have to go anywhere for now.

Well, it didn't matter as long as it didn't involve her.

Walking silently around the room, she ducked her head a little in front of her pets’ cage and wanted to greet them as she normally did, before she heard her mother's hurried footsteps.

"Oh, Veronica. It's good that you've come quickly.” Agnes Ryder said in a stern but concerned tone as she appeared in front of her. “Come on, go change your clothes. In half an hour we will go to Ryder Manor. ''

"What? Why?"

Her face showed the confusion she felt at that moment. They never went there unless some major event happened. And that day everything seemed normal, without any anniversary or birthday to celebrate, at least. _Had something bad happened then?_

"Your uncle Manuel has just informed us of an event of high importance to Bonesborough, one that is not yet in the news," her mother explained dryly. “It is something difficult to digest, we will tell you later. Don’t think about it."

Veronica didn't say anything before going to do what Agnes told her to. She could easily deduce that her mother wasn't comfortable talking about it. Her clothing also spoke volumes. That long dark blue dress that made her look more serious and subdued was so different from the brightly coloured outfits she usually wore.

 _What the hell was going on?_ It was the only question that crossed her mind before she sat down on her bed and forced herself to calm down. If her uncle, who was in the Emperor’s Coven, had summoned them, then something big related to Emperor Belos must be happening.

Thousands of options rushed into her mind, each worse than the last, and all only made her feel even more nervous and annoyed. Emperor Belos reigned with an iron fist over the Boiling Isles and any extreme measure, good or bad, would have a significant impact on her normal life.

But that wasn't the most important thing.

What mattered most to her was that he wasn't going to be able to follow through on her plan to finish her homework on time.

Seriously, Emperor Belos? Just the day when I have a lot to do?

Veronica wanted to cry from the frustration (and the anxiety she was trying to ignore), but she decided to do what her mother had told her and not think about it anymore. After all, it's not like they're staying there at Ryder Manor until the next day, like other times.

She walked over to her closet and quickly donned an elegant long-sleeved grey-cyan tunic that featured a crimson ruby embedded in the centre of her chest, dark blue pants, and patent leather shoes. Finishing that, Veronica quietly made her way down the stairs, while her mind tried to organize how the hell she would do all the homework she needed to complete before hearing something she supposed he shouldn't have heard.

“... and refusing to join a coven, Edalyn Clawthorne’s body shall be petrified in stone. Today, sundown, at the Conformatorium.’’

Oh. Veronica felt like she was in some kind of super weird dream.

Had the Owl Lady been captured? She certainly didn't underestimate the strength of the Emperor’s Coven, but in all her short sixteen years of life, she had never heard of them capturing the Boiling Isles most wanted criminal. The urge to talk about it with her friends washed over her, but she concentrated on continuing to listen to what her parents were talking about.

“So, it was true, James.” She heard her mother say to her father.

"The last petrification occurred thirty years ago, why should such an archaic method be used again?" He snorted and Veronica could hear him sit down on a chair. “It's not like it can't be fixed by forcing her to join some coven or sealing her magic. This is a waste of human capital.’’

"But an efficient way to remind us of the consequences of being wild witches." Her mother sighed. “At least we shouldn't worry about how it affects us. It's not like we do something forbidden.’’

"Well, we couldn't say that about our daughters." Veronica, who had been in hiding, widened her eyes with surprise and some suspicion, paying special attention to the next words. ‘’Young people today have different ideas and with that new measure of dual or multi-track in Hexside, Veronica may find herself fascinated by… surreal ideas.’’

She exhaled in relief. It was just that. Veronica had imagined the worst possible scenario, as always, even though it was impossible for them to know about the things she did at the drawing club and the deal he made with the multitrack guys, which was obviously different from what they meant.

"... We may not have taught Lucia well, but I'm not going to let my other daughter follow the same path of revolutionary but stupidly dangerous ideas."

"In any case, if that happens, we can always send her to St. Epiderm."

 _What?!_ , Veronica stopped being calm when she heard that. The news about the Owl Lady was shocking, but this. This was simply an unacceptable threat. She understood that St. Epiderm was her father's alma mater, but it was also where some of her cousins on the father's side studied and she would hate to be with them, even though they were nicer than the ones who studied at Glandus High. _And her parents knew it perfectly well too._

What a double-edged sword.

"Why do you talk about it if I always do normal things within the rules?"

Both adults turned in her direction and her mom smiled slightly before saying with a sly expression that made Veronica feel like the other knew all her secrets.

“You can take that as a warning. Not obeying the Emperor Belos can put your life at risk, and we've spent enough money and effort in it. "

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." She crossed his arms in mock nonchalance and changed the subject. "Where is Lucia? Aren't we going with her? "

"She heard that we are staying at Ryder Manor all weekend and she just hung up the phone." Her father shrugged with a slight frown.

"What?" Veronica's eyes widened in surprise and her glasses slid a little across the bridge of her nose. "Ha, ha ... looks like I'll have to bring my notebook to further my investigation then." She laughed nervously before going upstairs straight to her room, not giving her parents time to continue talking to her.

* * *

She closed her door before biting her thumb anxiously, one of her bad habits that she thought she had already forgotten. Well, that showed how uneasy she felt, and it was no wonder. Everything that was happening since the beginning of classes seemed to want to push her out of her routine and harm her daily life.

At least it was still up to '' ordinary '' standards, Veronica repeated itself several times in her mind like some kind of reassuring mantra.

Now she just had to come up with a plan to counter all those unexpected problems. _Yup, completely simple._

Those that had a direct impact on her life, such as the tasks and projects that she had pending, could be solved by creating clones, after all, she was an illusionist and perfectly controlled that. And although Veronica was a bit reluctant not to do them on her own, the situation warranted it.

It's not like She can avoid interacting with the other Ryders.

Especially without Lucia, who contradicted them and fought with them like there was no tomorrow. She wondered where the hell her sister was when she needed her most. Well, she was probably writing her weird book of mixing beast keeping with plants magic, along with that guy who lived in the same neighbourhood as them and who was definitely her boyfriend (even though her sister didn't say so).

_Her sister's priorities could be seen._

Her mind stopped wandering and she began to analyse the ordinary news she had just heard. Veronica didn't have any strong opinion about it. Her way of thinking, driven by the number of debates she had attended, was so contradictory that the only conclusion she had drawn in that short time was that 'it was not something or that bad, but not that good'.

The Owl Lady hadn't even killed someone to deserve to be petrified, but she had racked up so many crimes that it might in part be justified. Furthermore, she had broken the only rule that Emperor Belos had imposed on magic. _Practice it freely._ And that was something that if breached could be an example of rebellion for other people, which would bring the witch community back to the Savage Ages. Although it isn't as if starting to petrify people, no matter how criminal, is the best example to move forward.

It was a dilemma where Veronica couldn't tell which side was the right one and everything was happening fast enough to analyse it in depth.

And well, Veronica just hoped it wasn't so damaging to her or the people she loved. What all witches and demons needed most was peace and order, not cruel measures of repression that had not been seen since the devastation caused by the savage ages.

Wait.

Thinking about it, before going to where her psychological torture (also called being with her ‘family’) would begin, she should quickly talk to her friends about what had just happened.

Invoking her scroll and going to Penstagram's messaging section, Veronica hit the call button for the first contact that appeared, without even glancing to see who it was. She knew perfectly well that it was Calixto, since both spoke a lot through that medium.

_Except it wasn't._

Veronica should have realized that something was happening when even after several seconds, no one answered her. Which was weird, since her friend was always available to chat with even if it was the end of the world, and she was the fastest in her group of friends to answer messages or calls. However, she was too busy overthinking and analysing everything that was happening that had downplayed that fact.

And because of that she nearly died of fright upon hearing the familiar voice of someone whom she had definitely not wanted to call.

"Veronica?"

_Well, what should she do now?_

In the short time it took her to answer, Veronica's thought process went a thousand a second. She couldn't just cut the call because it would be very rude, but she also didn't want to just say that she was wrong because, well, she would be hiding some horrible great news from Emira, especially when that girl seemed to have a good relationship with the human and her mentor.

Although she would probably just get too involved if she said it like that, there was also a possibility that the other one would get angry or sad. Veronica didn't know exactly because she had never been in that situation, but it was true that for anyone it would be shocking, and she wanted to avoid wasting time or making someone feel bad.

After all, sometimes ignorance could keep us happy a little longer, right?

Although that sounded quite cruel in that situation. Dammit.

"Oh, Emira." Veronica laughed with some embarrassment and nervousness. "Sorry, I wanted to call someone else and I pressed the wrong contact."

"That's fine, sweetie." She heard her laugh back and knew in an instant that Emira probably didn't know what was going on. "So, see you..."

"Wait!"

"Yeah?"

"Uhm, the thing is, well ... I think that '" She hesitated, not sure what to say. "You should watch the news, there are some pretty… bad news, if you could put it like that."

"Uh, okay?"

"All right." Veronica sighed trying to ease her discomfort. "... bye."

After clumsily cutting off the call, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she covered her face with her hands. Was she crazy? she wondered regretfully. That was the worst of all the best ways she had ever had in mind to achieve the midpoint of the two things he wanted to do.

At least she did what she wanted to do. Modest enough not to intrude on the green-haired girl and her brother's personal lives, but not cruel enough to keep them from learning about the petrification at all costs.

Just… a normal little hint, which seemed to be the right thing to do for the occasion.

Putting the issue aside, Veronica started to call her friends, looking for her group chat, now more carefully. She wouldn't have enough time to call them individually as her parents wouldn't believe that it would take her so long to find a notebook.

"Vera, did you see the news?" Calixto asked as soon as she answered.

"Yeah ..." Veronica sighed. “Sounds terrible doesn't it? To be petrified ... "

"At least your acquaintances could have a nice statue of you without spending any snail on it." Veronica was surprised to hear Jessira's sarcastic voice even though only Calixto appeared connected.

"Don't say that, it's callous and cruel." She listened as her friend from the same track claimed the other.

"Whatever."

"I didn't know you were together." Veronica laughed nervously, trying to keep them from starting to argue.

"Don't you remember? We told Eric and you that Jess, Marianne and I would kill time together. " Calixto explained with some surprise in her tone of voice.

Veronica had definitely forgotten about it. She knew that her bluehead friend had gone to collect ingredients for the potions of one of his older sisters because it was something he did normally, but not about the others going out for a walk. Maybe it was because she didn't consider it important enough to be thinking about school things, she thought with a grimace.

“... Mm, I think I vaguely remember it. My memory keeps getting worse. Ah, being 16 years old is already paying me bills. " She sighed with some derision to ease the tensions.

The sounds of footsteps approaching were heard from the other side before hearing Marianne say. "I can't imagine how you will be next year then."

They all laughed a little and after being silent for a few seconds, Veronica murmured with a little more seriousness. “Well, before I forget what I wanted to tell you. What do you think about what is happening? "

"I have no comments." Marianne snorted. "What is supposed to happen is happening, isn't it?"

“I think the same as Marianne. But it sounds pretty cruel. " Calixto's voice was full of compassion.

"Personally, I'm interested in what will happen." Jessira finished in a monotonous tone. Apparently her friend wanted to see stocks and not just comment on it.

Veronica agreed with what she said. "Yeah, this is going to go into the history of the Boiling Isles andー"

"No, I don't mean that." The brunette interrupted her. “What happens is that according to the astrological charts, something very unexpected is going to happen today. Something that might be good for what we really think about this."

"And because of that, Jessira is dragging us to the Conformatorium to see a ruthless show." Her friend from Illusions snorted in annoyance.

"She almost used all her magic just to know that." The redhead laughed, trying to sound nonchalant. "We told her we needed more tests to avoid seeing something fiend as a petrification but hey, curiosity got the better of us."

"Well, the truth is that I would rather be there than with my relatives." Veronica bit her lip a little. "Apparently they think it's something that concerns us quite a bit."

"I can imagine it. They must be celebrating this as if it were the event of the year."

"Ugh, yeah…" She complained as she ran a hand through her hair, trying not to mess it up so much.

"Well, you can always run away and come here."

Hearing her friend from Oracle's proposal, Veronica tried not to take it seriously, but a part of her wanted to. "I will think about it." She laughed a little before saying goodbye to them. "Bye, girls."

"Bye." Calixto and Marianne hummed in chorus.

"See you later." The last girl muttered in a mysterious tone, before she ended the call.

Veronica was curious why Jessira seemed to think they would see each other later. It's not like she's going to go wherever they are at the moment or to the Conformatorium. It would be interesting to do so, sure, but she didn't think she could bear to watch someone else's life fade away as he turned to stone. An irreversible process, Veronica easily remembered what she had heard in history classes.

Would it hurt? Or would it be like feeling that your body stopped belonging to you more and more, in a painless but agonizing process that slowly turned your flesh and bones to stone? It would be maddening, she thought, feeling a chill run through her body and goose bumps.

_More reasons to not practice wild magic._

Veronica concluded with conviction and seriousness as she grabbed any notebook near her. After doing that, the black-haired girl concentrated on calming down and created two clones that silently stood in front of her before taking out the books and notebooks she had, starting to do the homework she had.

At least her magic was still as usual, she thought with relief.

It would be a nightmare if one day she ended up being unable to do it, especially when her clones were so useful at the worst times. Even better than an abomination, she thought with some pride before reminding himself that that was quite a silly comparison. The abominations were brute force primarily for combat and as far as she respected, her illusions couldn't take a hit before fading.

In addition to that, they depended on how stable their emotions and feelings were at the time of creating them. She winced at the memory of the first complex copies she had made of herself. So crazy, mischievous, and out of control that everyone was shocked that this was her mental image of herself. And they were also so _transparent and honest about what they 'felt'_ , she thought, remembering with shame everything that had happened those days.

Now they were more like puppets who could do what she could without any complications, and Veronica was satisfied with it.

"Veronica! Come now, we have to go now! "

"I'm going!" She said out loud, hoping her parents would hear her. She put her thoughts aside and with a hurried step, walked down the second-floor corridor.

However, as she passed the door leading to her sister's tower, Veronica stopped when she saw two worn, but still undamaged winged shoes placed in front of it.

Weird.

Too weird, she thought in alarm as she realized that they were the ones her sister had normally used throughout her adolescence. Why was her sister throwing them away when she treated them almost like relics? Besides, it's not like her parents allow her to have other new pairs to do it, Veronica thought with curiosity and disdain.

Watching them any longer gave her a foolish and reckless idea. If her sister didn't want them, then she could use them right now, right?

It would do quite well in case he wanted to get away from Ryder manor that day or when she just wanted to go out with her friends and hadn't given her permission. Also, all guys of her age used them, and they didn't seem as difficult to handle as her mother had said to forbid her to use them. And it isn’t like her family members noticed her shoes or how she dressed, anyway.

They didn't deserve that she used her patent leather shoes that she only reserved for very important occasions. They could settle for those worn black winged ankle boots, she thought to herself as she pulled them on.

"Veronica! If you don’t come in this moment, I’ll…! "

"I'm going!"

Well, it was time to prepare to endure all those hours that followed.

* * *

She was definitely not going to hold out another minute with them.

Veronica crossed her arms, trying not to show her discomfort as she continued to listen to her cousins talking to each other.

“... That criminal was finally caught. Now all Boiling Isles will be able to rest in peace, don't you think? " Her cousin Nisse, daughter of her aunt Elizabeth and who was the same age as her, said with a malicious tone.

Hearing the girl said that made her want to defend the Owl Lady simply by teasing her. However, apart from the fact that there was no one to support her there, and neither did she want her father to impose harsher punishments on her than taking away her scroll. She just stayed silent, waiting to see what her other cousins, with whom she was sitting at a table completely separated from the adults, would say.

The demurest (one of the children of her less obnoxious uncles), named Romina, admonished her a bit. “Well yes, but don't say it out loud. Since our grandmother, we don't need to participate in politics and less with this type of sensitive events. "

"It's not like they can do anything to us." Nisse replied with a grimace of disgust.

"Better safe than sorry." Fabrice, Manuel's son from Illusion Coven, sighed with a smile.

"If our grandmother were here, we would be next to Emperor Belos instead of hiding at home." Nisse's older sister, Julie, seconded her sister's position.

"Well, my father could have been there, but he took the time to be with all of you." The boy answered him again and Veronica felt the tension in the air.

"And it's not like you or your parents are part of the Emperor 's Coven." She whispered inaudibly mockingly to Nisse and Julie.

"At least I'm a real Ryder." Nisse turned to look at her with contempt and in that moment, Veronica knew she had screwed up her quiet stay at Ryder Manor.

_Damn._

"Come on, let's not talk about this." Andrew, who was Romina's brother, tried to calm the waters. “We are supposed to be here to have a good time. Without the old grudges our parents have, okay? "

"It's not like she lives here." Nisse muttered rolling her eyes, but apparently giving Veronica a truce.

"Ha, ha ... So, at St. Epiderm we are studying new songs, do you want to hear them?" Percy, her uncle Manuel's second son, giggled nervously.

Oh no.

Veronica felt that her sister should definitely have been there to prevent that. Her cousin, although he was a prominent student of Bards and sang any kind of song perfectly, would probably sing some kind of slow old song. Not even being able to make her cousins Glandus, Nisse, and Julie feel bored, could make up for it when it made her want to sleep too.

What a nightmare.

Looking for a good excuse to get out of there, Veronica got up from her seat while muttering under her breath. "I'll go to the bathroom, with permission."

"Veronica..!" Fabrice, who, like his father, cared about 'bringing' the family back together and apparently fully knew that this was just a pretext for not being with them.

Too bad she kept walking without paying attention to him.

Veronica felt a little guilty. It's not like they personally offended her (well, Nisse had), but she felt too uncomfortable being around them. Especially when they knew each other all their lives and apparently didn't want to interact with her. Veronica mentally wondered if it was because her sister hated them and didn't bother to hide it.

She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and went into the bathroom. What did it matter at that moment? She had to concentrate on what was happening. Being locked in there would only give her 5 minutes of peace and quiet, until she got back there.

Veronica knew there was only one option for that, she thought looking at the shoes she had on. If she left an illusion there to replace her, she could go anywhere she wanted.

_Tempting._

She could even go to the Conformatorium and fulfil what Jessira had predicted earlier. But… would that be the right thing to do?

It wasn’t like her illusions weren't strong enough to last for several hours or weren't realistic enough for anyone to figure it out, but wouldn't that be quite rude for her parents?

She was supposed to be their daughter and therefore, she must be there getting bored with her cousins, not in some dangerous place without supervision. And it was also different to witness a petrification live than just knowing about it from someone else's mouth, even if Jessira seemed pretty sure that something different than expected was going to happen.

But she also had that feeling of wanting to go, maybe meet up with her friends and not care what the hell her family thought about it. Just like Lucia had done. Take off the restrictions for a day and just be Veronica, with no last name to hold her back and in some way back her up.

Oh, fuck it. That was the only rebellious thought that crossed her mind at the time. Anyway, it was a nightmare to be with them and he had already spent 16 years of her life hiding her true self from most people and withholding the reactions and comments he wanted to make in order to continue doing so. At least he had to give herself a little day of freedom where she would just escape Ryder Manor.

It's not like she hadn't done it before.

Although Veronica doubt a bit to go out without notifying anyone at home to go to familiar places could be compared to directly deceiving her parents and her entire family to go to a place she had never been before.

_Conformatorium._

It was supposed to be to the north, a long way from her home and even further from Ryder Manor, which was south, outside of Bonesborough. Veronica wondered if she could get there as she began to create one of her most complex copies of herself. Well, this wasn't the time to step back, she told herself mentally as she forced herself to stop feeling afraid. It wasn’t very efficient, but it gave her some courage to face the action that adrenaline caused in her body.

Both she and her clone came out of the bathroom at the same time. There was no one in the hallway, thanks to the Titan, but she should probably hurry a bit to some room with a window. Veronica walked quickly down the hall and opened the last door while closing her eyes in fear.

She didn't know if it belonged to someone or if there was something inside.

Great was her relief and surprise when there was nothing inside. Every surface in the room was covered in a fine layer of dust and Veronica could see with amazement how it seemed to have the most elegant and beautiful furniture she had ever seen in her life. Whoever lived there had a good sense of style. She wondered if it was one of her late grandparents or great-uncles.

She winced when she saw a grey cloak she had seen earlier placed on the divan in front of the window. It was from her grandmother, Julia Ryder. Veronica knew it because in the photos in which she appeared young, with many of the most powerful witches in all of Boiling Isles, she wore one just like it.

It was some kind of somewhat shiny grey silk that still looked new and had delicate patterns embroidered with white thread on the edges. Anyone could tell that it was something that had been in vogue at the time, but somehow, it also gave off a powerful aura that made her wish she had it.

She couldn't take her gaze from her and when she shakily grabbed it with her hands and reached out to dust it off, she felt quite euphoric.

Would anyone find out if she borrowed it for a few hours?

"You can take it if you want."

Veronica released the cloak as dread enveloped her like a blanket. Oh shit. _What the hell was Fabrice doing there?!_

There was no other choice, she thought anxiously as she turned quickly and cast a confusion spell. It didn't work, obviously. The skills that a student had versus someone who already belonged to a Coven couldn't be compared. What a shame.

"Calm down, Veronica." Oh, how she hated that phrase that made her feel like her normal way of being couldn't be transformed into an angry one that could attack someone.

"How did you know I'm here?" She growled under her breath trying to hold back the tears of shame and pretending not to be afraid.

"I'm in charge of managing the mansion's tracking and protection runes, cousin." The boy crossed his arms.

"And what do you want? Congratulations?" She said imitating how one of her friends responded when she was exasperated.

"Don't be defensive, I'm not thinking of giving away whatever it is you're trying to do by sending a clone instead of you."

Veronica tried to believe him and calm down. "Good?"

"The protections close at 12 at night." He said without caring. "If you're going outside, you'd better come back sooner."

"Oh." She shifted uncomfortably in place.

Fabrice, as fast as he had come, walked out without looking back. However, he paused under the door for a moment and said tersely. "You can take the cloak, after all, it was going to belong to your sister."

What the hell?

Her brain had a short circuit from which he didn't recover even after grabbing the cape, putting it on, and flying out the bedroom window.

Veronica didn't know what that was supposed to mean and although thousands of options ran through her head, she decided to forget about it to focus on controlling those winged shoes (because wow, first flying experience alone, so unreal.) And getting to the Conformatorium on time.

About everything that had happened, well, just screw them off!

* * *

_Veronica definitely should never have left Ryder Manor._

She shouldn't have worn her sister's winged shoes, nor should she have eavesdropped on her parents.

Perhaps in that way, the situation that was occurring at that time would have been avoided. If she had known, she wouldn't have to be dying of fear and terror because the damn winged shoes she had were ignoring her.

Veronica wanted to scream, move, or cast a spell to help her in that situation, but she was completely petrified. Her limbs were numb, and she felt like she could barely breathe. In such an ironic situation, she wondered which of all was going to be her cause of death, if by impact with the ground after fainting or by fright.

It didn't help that some kind of bird got dangerously close to her at that moment. Oh, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Get out of me!" She gasped in terror and dread as she flailed her arms trying to scare the creature. Although apparently the only one who was scared was her. That thing was apparently already used to the presence of witches and didn't seem concerned about the actions it was taking.

Now Veronica aside from being completely submerged in fear, she was also angry. Angry with that stupid bird, with her cousin for not stopping her, with her parents for taking her to a place that she hated with all her soul and especially, with herself.

After all, that was her fault. Of her foolish actions and her one-day rebellion.

What was she supposed to do right now?

Veronica was sure that she would die in minutes if she did nothing!

However, despite everything she thought, Veronica couldn't do anything. She was just trying to fight a damn bird to no avail, but then, she was completely still when she felt her shoes stop flapping and gravity pulled her toward the ground.

_Oh, for the titan._

Veronica looked in amazement and fear at the ever-closer red trees. The air that flowed fast across her face and felt as cold as an ice cube was also somehow charming. And terrifying, of course. She was sure that there was no chance of being saved, but hey, they always said that when you are dying you are no longer afraid of death, right?

Good that your norepinephrine is doing its job for the first time in her entire life.

Veronica closed her eyes and stopped tensing her body, preparing for what would be her last lifetime experience. Maybe that's what Jessira was referring to. She would end up dying there and being summoned by her friend at the Conformatorium. What a good plan, she thought with some gratitude and amusement.

Now is death supposed to hurt? Or would it just be like sleeping?

Well, as long as it wasn't such a horrible thing, it was fine.

* * *

Veronica stood up, gasping as she gasped for more air when apparently a large amount of water was thrown over her face.

"... Didn't I tell you this would work?"

"I think you went a bit overboard with the water."

“Oh, come on, she's completely fine. No, Veronica? "

She heard the distinguishable voice of the Blight twins as she continued to cough uncontrollably. The water had entered her mouth and nose, causing that horrible burning sensation in her throat, which she hoped will pass soon.

However, the outrage and annoyance with both siblings (especially with Emira, because it seemed like it was her idea) was forgotten when she recalled the recent events.

Relief and surprise caught her off guard, and after standing up while wiping her face vigorously, she stammered in a bit of confusion. "Am I not dead?"

"No, I don't think so. Unless this is some weird dream you would have when you die. " The green-haired boy replied with amusement as she tried to cast a cleaning spell.

"Keep dreaming ..." She paused with an inevitable sneeze before saying his name with some disdain. "Edric."

"What happened that you were fighting a pigeon?" Edric changed the subject.

"An extreme sport, if you ask me." Emira added while laughing. "I can't imagine why you were doing it."

"I was trying to get to the Conformatorium." She said with annoyance because it wasn't the plan to stay with both mocking siblings at that time. "Now that I think about it, shouldn't you be there? I think the main event, if you want to call it that, is going to start in just one hour. "

"Why should we be there?" Emira frowned slightly in intrigue, still keeping her smile.

So that was the reason why they seemed so relaxed.

_They didn't know._

Emotions swirled in her chest, she felt happy that somehow, they had stayed doing anything in the forest because they ignored her hint and thus would have saved her (She wasn't an idiot. Even if somehow she survived the fall, she would definitely end up with broken bones at the very least.) Veronica also felt nervousness and fear, along with some disbelief that she might have to tell them the truth.

She wasn't cut out to do that.

"Oh, for the titan. You don't know?" She babbled nervously as she avoided eye contact and gave them an awkward smile.

"What should we know?" They both asked with obvious curiosity.

"Uhm, first could you tell me how I was saved from dying?" She asked trying to buy more time to think about how to tell them that the person who had saved them was going to be petrified.

Veronica was sure they both noticed her nervousness, and strangely, they didn't push her too hard to talk about what seemed most interesting. Which was good, but weird. Had some bug bit them to stop acting like the cunning, joking, and even somewhat condescending guys they'd always seen?

"Emira saw someone fight a bird" Edric said making gestures with his hands. "Well, he knew something was wrong when you started to fall."

"Oh thanks." She sincerely thanked before beginning to mutter almost inaudibly. "About the news, uhm, you could say that-"

"You shouldn't tell us if it's personal, Veronica." Emira interrupted her with a sigh.

"It's nothing personal or weird," She clarified. "It just… is a difficult thing to process."

"You shouldn't take so much care-"

"The Owl Lady is going to be petrified at sundown." She said. Clear and concise, to avoid problems.

"Wait, what?" Emira's face twisted into an expression of disbelief. "You must be kidding."

"Why would I do something like that?" She snorted disdainfully before adding nervously. "I told you to check the news and you didn't, obviously it was going to be something serious like that."

"The Owl Lady has never been caught."

"I also thought that. But hey, maybe it would be better if you don't believe me. " She advised both of them while trying to get her winged shoes to work.

"What are you going to do?" Edric asked seriously.

“Show up on time and see if what Jess told me was true. I didn't run away from Ryder Manor only to almost die. " Veronica rambled a bit as she rose into the air very slowly.

"We'll go with you." Hearing Emira's statement, Veronica almost fell.

"Why?"

“We need to see if we can help Luz and well,” Emira scanned her appearance. "I don't think you can get anywhere in this state."

"Oh thanks." She said sarcastically forgetting the pity and compassion she was feeling for the Owl Lady "I thought they would stay at your house, with your sister."

"Why would we be with Mittens when we have to help our friend's mentor."

"That's what friends do after all." Edric finished with a strange expression. Almost like he's strutting. Weird.

"I don't think I could do that." Veronica said sighing at the idea both boys had. Too difficult, too risky. With that alone they showed that they were elite students.

"Who knows." Emira laughed a little.

"Anyway, how will they get there without winged shoes?" Veronica asked changing the subject.

"By broom, obviously." Edric replied while summoning two brooms that looked expensive and new.

"Oh. So, I guess we're going. " She muttered without looking directly at them as her shoes tried to make her fly higher.

"Wait." Emira stopped her as she cast a spell in her direction. "Your shoes were damaged, I already repaired them." Oh, no wonder it was so difficult to fly.

"Uh, okay. Thank you." Veronica said uncomfortably at that act while hoping his cheeks weren't flushed, although the dizzying situation of flying would have made it disappear quickly.

The green-haired girl saw her again and if there was any doubt on the part of Emira when she saw her hands tremble with fear at just being a few meters above the ground, she hid it very well. Veronica was somewhat grateful for it, whether it was done on purpose or not. To continue experiencing shame and terror for being very sensitive to everything had to be overcome some day and it was better at that moment than at another.

Furthermore, she was confident that the other two would save her if she fell. Nobody would like to see someone die if you can help it, Veronica convinced herself.

With those thoughts invading her mind, the almost blind trust that she had forced herself to have and the gratitude for Emira, Veronica followed both siblings who had already soared through the skies, where the colour orange was slowly looming.

She wished they could get into the Conformatorium on time.

* * *

"Let Eda go!" It was the phrase that was being chanted at that moment throughout the Conformatorium, giving Veronica an overwhelming sense of bravery and courage, as if that was the right decision for everyone.

"It won't be long before she can run away from this." She murmured very loudly with suppressed emotion. She had never seen anything like it, Lilith Clawthorne had betrayed th-

"They won't be able to leave." Emira said, analysing the whole place, that it was packed with people and members of the Emperor’s Coven. "Too many guards and too little room to flee even at the expense of enough magic."

"And that is why we have to act right now." Edric said with conviction.

His sister proposed something that surprised Veronica. "I think if the three of us put our magic together, we'll help them a lot."

"The three of us?" She asked suspiciously while pointing at them. "Aren't you guys supposed to be powerful enough to do it?"

"We also do spells throughout the day, Veronica." The boy muttered loudly as if that excused them. But, weren't they more powerful than she?

What kind of wasteful magic bile spells did they use throughout the day so that they couldn't do whatever it was they wanted to do alone?

"But ... if I spent all my magic on this, my illusions will vanish." She hesitated with an expression of doubt. It seemed important to them and _it would be nice to help them_ , but for Veronica, helping a wild witch escape wasn't worth her family finding out that she had left a clone with them.

"We're not going to drain all your magic, sweetie." Veronica saw how Emira seemed to laugh, although she couldn't hear it because the soft chorus of people asking for Eda to be released could still be heard. "Just a little bit is fine."

They seemed to be completely sure that it would work and well, Veronica had permission to act as she wanted that day without caring about any complicated nonsense, so she was just hoping it would work when she agreed. "Fine. What will we do?"

Edric motioned for the two of them to come closer and whispered. "Create an illusion so that all the guards think that Eda is being petrified even when she is not."

"That will be too difficult, too much magic and I can't do those kinds of complex things." Well, it wasn't an excuse. Veronica mentally chided herself for only focusing on creating clones and no other complex illusion spells.

_She was not up to the situation._

"Then we have to do a gravity spell." Emira proposed after they were silent for a few seconds. "Do you know that one?"

"Yeah... Yeah I think." She nodded as she tried to remember the spell well. Veronica could barely do the bare minimum, so she asked doubtfully. "What will happen if you can't get rid of petrification?"

Edric winked at him. "Then we'll have to improvise." Oh well that's fine. Improvisation is the middle name of life, because life is about improvisation, right? (Veronica wouldn't admit she was nervous.)

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine." Emira gave her a consoling smile as she put her hand on Veronica's shoulder. "You have to trust that Luz will appear."

"I only trust facts and data, but hey, anyone should never lose hope." She stammered with a nervous smile.

"So, let's do it."

* * *

It was horrible, as the Owl Lady's screams of agony echoed all over the place and they had to concentrate on keeping the guards in place through the spell that the three of them did and hope that some miracle would occur.

"Oh, for the titan." Veronica's hand shook nonstop, slightly destabilizing the small circle of magic they kept hidden between them as she continued to watch Eda being petrified. "I don't want to see this."

"Hey, it's going to be okay." Emira said calmly upon seeing her pale face. "They will be able to escape somehow."

A small bead of sweat slid down her temple as she tried to stay focused on the spell. Veronica didn't know if she was like this because she was watching a person slowly die, or if it was because their magic was being absorbed more and more to the limit.

"Luz will appear, she wouldn't let this happen ..." Edric gritted his teeth, apparently being the second of them who had that feeling of anxiety, either because he was running out of magic or seeing that maybe they couldn't save the Owl Lady.

"Good, this should work." Emira said when she saw how someone, apparently the human, appeared on stage and stopped the process. Veronica sighed as she grabbed her hand for the spell to fully stabilize.

"But not all the guards have been contained by the spell!" She whispered with concern and some contained pain. Definitely the first two clones must have disappeared and hope the Owl Lady, Lilith and that cat could escape before her other clone disappear.

"They can escape, they must." Edric said as everyone watched as the cage disappeared and fortunately, the Owl Lady (or Beast?) Began to fly across the dark sky.

"Wow." Veronica sighed, being the first to break the shared spell and shake her arm that was almost numb.

Emira kept looking in the direction they had gone and admitted honestly. "I didn't think this would really work."

"We did it! Can you believe-"

Suddenly, Emperor Belos appeared in the stage and despite the fact that Veronica was wearing a cape, she felt a chill run all over her spine. What was he going to say?

"Children of the Isles. The Titan has told me to spare the Owl Lady’s life, but in return, her curse will strip away all her powers." He paused that Veronica used to process the information. "Let her monstrous form be a lesson about the dangers of wild magic."

_She, Emira and Edric, did they do something right?_

Telling a witch that she can't do magic is like clipping a bird's wings and Veronica was speechless, she just wondered if the Owl Lady would have preferred death instead.

"Veronica!" She suddenly felt a hand pat her shoulder and Jessira's familiar voice. “We finally found you. You saw what happened, didn't I tell you something interesting would happen? "

"I-" She blinked quickly to snap out of her shock and keep her eyes from looking glassy with the effort and grief he felt for what had just happened. “We are going to celebrate this." Marianne continued in a happy tone. "Nobody died tonight, isn't it good?"

Calixto, who apparently was the only one who noticed that she was stunned, got very close to her, hugged her gently and whispered. “Don't think too much about it, we all know that somehow the Owl Lady is going to have her powers again. If her curse didn't stop her earlier, I don't think it will now either. "

Veronica rested her forehead on her friend's shoulder, sighing. "Okay, I was just thinking about it a lot."

"So, are you coming?" Calixto asked affectionately, almost as if she were her mother.

"We meet Kate, Hexter, Payne and other guys here and we will go with them for a walk around town." The brunette added as she acted as if Edric and Emira didn't exist. Well, Veronica had just remembered them, she had been too focused on being with her friends and thinking about what she had done.

"We're going to have a fun night to forget about this." Marianne laughed before adding slowly. "You could even get closer to Hexter."

"Oh dude. I already told you that I don't like it that way. " She gritted her teeth as she blushed slightly in embarrassment. Hoping it wouldn't show, she asked them. "Anyway, can I bring more friends?"

"... Sure." Jessira answered making a face of disgust. She obviously knew who she would ask to go with her

She was talking about Emira and Edric, of course.

Saying they were great was just a small comparison because they were amazing. Aside from being interesting people who were apparently always into adventures that ended well, they had a good personality and seemed to value friendship quite a bit despite their mischievous nature (oh, she hadn't forgotten that incident on the first day). And besides, their magic was powerful, she added mentally as she remembered the strange, soft and delicate way in which they were able to intertwine their magics to make the spell.

"We'll go to the exit, don't delay!" It was heard in the distance and Veronica smiled nervously.

But, they hardly spoke deeply with other people, according to what she knew. Would they want to be her friends? She was an ordinary witch, not powerful enough, nerdy and who almost always followed the rules. Well, it's not like it's not worth trying, if they don't want to, it would at least show that she had sympathy for them.

It would be great to have some adventure like the one she had today.

She would be just Veronica at that point. No restrictions or rules to follow and...

Well, first she had to focus on what was happening. Not knowing what to say, Veronica stammered almost incoherently. "Uhm, good. I know we have nothing to celebrate because the Owl Lady ran out of powers, but you guys are great and I really like you. " She breathed in to calm herself. "So, do you want to come? A little fun never hurts, right? "

"Yes, sure.”

"That would be great."

Seeing them nod, she gave them a wide smile. "Great. They are going to love being with those dorks. They look serious and boring at first glance, but they are quite funny and interesting when you meet them. Once, Eduard Payne... "

As she told them about the nonsense she had experienced with her other friends, Veronica thought it had been a very crazy day.

The Owl Lady’s petrification, escaping from Ryder Manor and nearly dying, meeting Emira and Edric whom she helped to save perhaps one of the most beloved criminals in all of Bonesborough and going for a night out with her friends.

Everything seemed better when she stopped concentrating on being Veronica Ryder and started acting like just Veronica.

_And maybe, she should do it more often._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmygod. Finally I finish this. 8k and if you keep reading this story, I have to congratulate you! Really this I so messy and there are so many things to do and is to long and so on. 
> 
> And I don't have a Beta Reader! Damn, I think I'm about getting bad grades just by trying to update this regularly lol.
> 
> In the next chapters there will be a lot of fluff and finally, we get into the important thing (romance B)))). ). Anyways, wanna tell you that as there's no 2 season, I will skip like 4 month's and do then the things that happen in the 2 season, well they will affect some things after I finish to write this (which is like, the first version jaslkdajs).
> 
> Oh, I just recalled something. Did I tell you that this is a practice for me XD? I actually, wanna write a science fiction story (despite I don't wanna study literature bc Genetic Engineer is so cool) but I realized that if I don't practice then my real story will suck XDDD.
> 
> So... see you on the next chapter!
> 
> Leave your kudos and comments if you like this weird stuff I'm doing!〔´∇ ｀〕


	6. Veronica's false confidence and an unexpected problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her best friend always said that the sky would hurt the moment it fell on her. And Veronica knew it. She knew perfectly well.  
> But... did life really hate her that much?
> 
> Now, with Eduard Payne wanting to get the most out of her, some feelings that would turn chaotic, and an unexpected enemy, she will have to prove that she could overcome anything that got in her way.
> 
> However, it was such a shame that Veronica had gotten tired of trying already.
> 
> Part 1.

Veronica wasn't angry.

Nope, she definitely wasn't.

"Look, _Ryder_." Payne started while maintaining that condescending smile. “I know you're good at this and everything, but we just can't let you go to singles. You know the reason for this. "

Because winning singles doesn't give too many points for the final count, he answered mentally while frowning more. Veronica understood how Eduard Payne was trying to do his best to bring another trophy back to Hexside —and honestly, she would too if she were in his position—, but she couldn't accept everything the other said.

She was there for her own benefit, not to help the debating club continue its winning streak that ultimately would not give her recognition.

She wasn't stupid enough to think that her other partner wouldn't take all the credit just for being on the official membership list, she thought before sighing with an exasperated tone.

"Look, this is going to be the last time I repeat it." She inhaled to relax and avoid doing anything unnecessary, before advancing on the boy. “I don't want to talk about that bland Magic Rights thing or something like that. Especially not with anyone from your Club. And—"

"Even if I put you on Hexter? I know you like her; you know?"

Her face felt as it was on fire. What the hell?

She definitely hadn't told the other boy about that, and also, there was no way she would allow him to tease her like they were best friends. "I do not care if you put the best of you with me, I tell you, I will go to the individual Public Health. And neither you nor anyone else is going to stop me. "

"You seem pretty sure about that, Ryder." Eduard Payne snorted a laugh that sounded too mocking. Veronica felt something inside her chest explode and began to flow through her veins like lava.

_Yeah, but what do you care._ She clenched her teeth without saying anything, to avoid lowering herself to the other's level and not to do something she would regret later.

"If Louis doesn't want to die or something like that, I'm pretty sure the lists will go according to what I want." She shrugged before smiling. "The everlasting oaths are quite powerful."

A hint of surprise crossed Edward's face before he gave a little laugh. "Oh, come on. You wouldn't dare."

"Test me, idiot."

* * *

Talking to the abominations track boy was exhausting, Veronica thought as she walked slowly down one of the school's corridors. Among the provocations that had the simple goal of annoying her and pushing her to the limit of her self-control, there was also a mutual respect that the two of them had earned after all the confrontations they had had over the years when they were even younger.

Still, she really hated the way they addressed each other.

It hadn't been like that at first. Hearing her last name slip with a tone of esteem from the other's mouth made her feel good, as if someone who was better than her in every way could realize that she belonged to the Ryders.

_As if she was on the same level as the elite._

She scoffed at the ideas she had at the time. Too naive and somehow stupid.

Veronica supposed that the feeling of inferiority had permeated her unconsciously after having lived most of her childhood listening to her magical power being compared to her cousins. And even when she realized it was all fake, a misrepresented image of the grim reality that some of her relatives didn't want to accept —and where it was obvious that most of the Ryders were ordinary compared to other witches—, that kind of thought had held her as if they were chains embedded deep within her soul.

Until now.

The incident of helping the most powerful savage witch in the Boiling Isles escape had to impact her life somehow, right? Although if she thought about it well, everything had gone like a chain effect, starting with something as simple as going to her house instead of going to her friends, and ending with changing her life.

But hey, Veronica still felt like she was ordinary, talented in her strengths, sometimes too mediocre in ordinary things. _Just like she always had._ However, she was trying to change it.

Despising and comparing her magical abilities hadn't changed, but she was trying to stop settling for it. It was a big step forward if someone asked. Although conformism seemed like the best way to live the normal life that she had wanted, she had found that it wasn't exciting at all. It made her wonder what she really wanted.

To be a Ryder or to be what she wanted to be?

It was something she couldn't decide, no matter how hard she tried to think through the pros and cons of everything. It was too difficult to choose when he couldn't just rely on arguments, but on her emotions and feelings as well.

Hard to understand. Difficult to analyse.

Veronica hated that her emotions were so fickle. Trying to understand her opinion on something she had always considered taboo left her confused. What did she want?

_What is she supposed to want?_

Everything seemed to be easier by holding on to her last name. As if it was right for her family, her friends, and the people themselves. But it didn't feel the same to her. Veronica didn't understand how her sister could so easily cut ties with his last name as if it were nothing. And she also didn't understand why everything had to be so difficult for her, wanting to decide on what seemed like a puzzle of thousands of pieces.

Somehow, she wanted to remain a Ryder, but she hated being addressed by her last name. She had almost exploded with fury upon hearing Payne call her Ryder.

She was Veronica. But was she a Ryder too?

What did it mean to her to belong to that genealogical line?

_Why was everything—_

"Hey, Vera!"

Her train of thought was cut by that unexpected greeting behind her back. She jumped in surprise as an afterthought at the scare the other girl had given her, and she tried to reassure her heart while listening to the other giggle freely.

Oh perfect. _Another one of her unsolved problems._

“Emira, for the Titan. You scared me." She said somewhat bewildered before the corners of her mouth lifted to form a smile. Well, talking to the other girl was more of a comfort.

A way of forgetting, in some way. And also, an example of how good it would feel to stop worrying about difficult things like your family.

Veronica could easily admit that since she almost died her first time shamelessly running away from her family, talking to Emira was so much better than being with her friends or even Hexter. Like flying, strange as it sounded from the mouth of someone who was scared of flying alone. Or like a breath of fresh air after hours and hours locked in some boring little place that would make her panic.

"That was the intention." The other girl smiled brightly showing a row of perfectly aligned white teeth as she put her hands behind her back.

She looked pretty and quite free, as always.

"I could have hit you by accident." Veronica said in an empty threat.

"You wouldn't do that". Emira snorted, and she silently agreed to it.

Se chuckled. "If you are sure of that." With a relaxed pace, she continued speaking as if she hadn't been angry minutes before. "Anyway, what is it about now?"

"Should something be happening, so I have to talk to my friend?"

"Not really".

A comfortable silence settled between the two of them after saying that and Veronica smoothed her raven hair while putting all her complicated thoughts aside. Thinking about her family and what she should do in her situation would get her nowhere, especially at school.

"So-"

"Um—" Veronica stopped when she realized they were talking at the same time. "Oh, I'm sorry. You first."

The green-haired girl hastened to speak while laughing a little. "It's nothing important. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go with me and Ed to try out some spells after school. "

Oh, wow. Was this considered a date? A part of her brain —the stupidest of her— wondered as her autopilot activated and responded.

"Sure." Veronica gave her a smile while hoping that the kind of blush she had made her look pretty and not like a beet. "It will be good for my sanity because, dude, I think I'm going to die of stress these days."

"You could always try necromancy if that wants to happen." Veronica frowned, pretending to be angry after hearing Emira say that. The other just laughed. "Fine, fine. I wasn't being serious. Why do you say that?"

"Did I tell you that I have a lot of things to do by the end of the semester?" When Veronica saw the green-haired girl nod, she continued. "Well, this debating event is less than two months away, but that bloody idiot of Payne just doesn’t accept that he won't be able to make me do what he wants anymore and it's quite frustrating to deal with." She ended with a small grunt of exasperation.

"Well, that's screwed up." Emira looked surprised after the tirade she had launched. “And what things is he forcing you to do? Maybe this is the time to use one of those spells that we have taught you— "

"Oh no, no, no." Veronica refused with some panic. She didn't see a time when he would use them in her right mind, especially not when she was in school. Although it could be interesting. “He is my friend, although it's hard for me to admit it. And it will probably make me worse later if I do. I'm just— well, I'm trying to talk about something that interests me, not boring stuff.

“Uhm, then you should go all out, I guess. He seems quite stubborn. "

"He is."

"Then that will make it more fun." Emira winked her eye and they both giggled a little.

"Sometimes. In others they make you want to kill him. " Veronica said. "Anyway, I just need to be pretty consistent and push him just enough to give up.

Emira looked at her with an indecipherable expression before mentioning. "As long as I don't put you in the situations Ed put himself in so he can talk to the multitrack guys."

Oh, so it was only that. Veronica rolled her eyes in derision as she remembered how Edric had served all sorts of punishments in order to enter the secret room of shortcuts. "Never. I still have a shred of dignity to maintain, I've lost enough doing a lot of stupid things. "

"You have to admit he was pretty brave."

"A bit silly". _Especially since it was only to talk to Jerbo_ , she said mentally.

"But still, he managed to get rid of that everlasting oath that he had, and incidentally, me too." Emira hummed while showing a smirk.

"Ug, what good sister privileges." She spluttered, crossing her arms, and closing her eyes.

"It worked for me." Emira shrugged.

"Because they realized it wasn't going to stop!" Veronica exclaimed holding back a laugh as she remembered the second-hand shame she felt when Edric served the 'punishments' he agreed to.

Definitely dark times that she didn't want to see again in her entire life, no matter how funny they ended up being. Veronica shook her head slightly, trying to push those embarrassing memories out of her mind. "Anyways, how is it to use—"

She couldn't finish speaking when someone called her from afar. "Veronica!" Turning around in the voice, he saw one of the members of the drawing club with a worried face. "So here you were!"

"Uhm, yeah?" _What the hell?_ , She wondered internally somewhat scandalized; she had never seen Frederick with such a face. "What happens?"

"Cath told me to tell you that you should go to the drawing club as fast as you can." The other muttered with his four eyes avoiding eye contact. Weird. "He mentioned something about the Human Appreciation Society and its former president." _Very weird._

"Oh damn." Veronica cursed in a whisper as the smile she wore faded from her face and turned into a grimace of disgust. She looked at Emira, who seemed interested and intrigued by everything the boy had said. It was a shame they couldn't keep talking, she thought before sighing, forming a weak smile, and excusing herself to the green-haired girl. “I have to go, duty calls me. We'll talk later."

"Ok." The other girl readily agreed before adding. "Don't forget what to do after school!"

"Of course, I won't." She affirmed with a sweet, forced smile, trying to hide her concern, as her gaze swept the surroundings to know where the hell she was. Ug, Veronica had forgotten where she was going after meeting Emira. What an embarrassing situation.

"Ah, Frederick!" Veronica exclaimed as she walked by where the other boy had appeared. "Thanks for telling me this!"

Well, she would find some place she knew along the way to guide herself and hopefully the break wouldn't end before that.

Her smile faded.

* * *

"One should never underestimate any situation," was what her sister often said and Veronica had tried to follow those words faithfully. In the minutes it took her to get to the drawing club lounge, she prepared herself for the worst that could have happened, but it was all in vain. Completely useless. What had happened was far worse than any expectations she had had.

It was like a bomb that could explode at any moment, a stealth beast lurking to kill you at the right moment, or even the worst nightmare that anyone had encountered in a sea of dreams.

Maybe she was exaggerating a bit, was the thought that went through her head to stay relaxed while she kept listening to what Catherine narrated with a voice choked with anger. Perhaps the appropriate term to describe it was "a stone in the road." Something silly but insignificant trying to get between her and her goals. _Of them and their goals as a club_ , Veronica corrected herself biting the inside of her cheek.

Do not underestimate anything.

Do not underestimate.

_Do—_ That couldn't be happening.

"You must be kidding." Veronica said holding back the urge to scream or break something. Her body felt chilled, as if a bucket of water had been thrown at her without warning, and her eyes stung, possibly because she was holding back tears of frustration. Veronica only wanted them to not be red.

"It would be a very bad joke." Catherine whispered rubbing her hands nervously.

Catherine. Tell Me. That. You. Are. Joking."

"No?" The statement she wanted so badly sprouted like a question that shattered her hopes. Veronica didn't know what face she made at the time, but she guessed it wasn't a very good one at listening to the other girl babbling. “No, just— Calm down, okay? I'm sure that when he sees you, he will pay us what he owes us. "

They were ruined, Veronica realized. "You shouldn't have given that idiot anything without him paying you, and you shouldn't have told him about this either." She blinked trying to keep the tears from running down her cheeks. Murmurs laden with resentment and mockery left her lips before she thought about it. "If you were forced to step down as president of the Human Appreciation Society, no matter how insignificant that club may be, the decision will not easily change."

"Mattholomule looked like a pretty sincere boy and I don't think he's capable of fooling us—"

"You can't believe that, dude!" Veronica interrupted the feline girl before snorting. “I recognize a cunning and unbearable idiot who only seeks his own benefits when I see him. You know, I'm like that most of the time. "

Catherine tried to relax and joke about it as she gave one of the most pathetic and lamentable laughs Veronica had ever heard. "And also because you can't trust 13-year-olds, right?"

"Exactly, those of that age are the worst." She clicks her tongue several times before moving on to what is truly important. "But, well— Well, if he didn't decide to kill us without a chance to fight, I'll go talk to him."

"Perfect, I trust you, leader." A genuine smile begins to bloom on each other's face, as if a weight had been lifted from her and Veronica almost wanted to laugh because the next thing she was going to say would destroy her hopes.

"But we need someone to blame in case something goes wrong."

"Well, we can always— why are you looking at me that way?"

Veronica blinked several times as she gave her a almost poisonous, mocking smile. “I was thinking that you could be the right person. You know, for talking to him about thing you shouldn't have say. "

"No, no, no." The other quickly denied and a part of Veronica wanted to laugh when she saw her face full of despair. "What the hell, Vera? You can't just... sacrifice me like this! Not when was this your idea in the first place. "

But it was your fault for being so incompetent, she wanted to say. They both fell into an awkward silence and the tension could be felt in the air as Veronica evaluated what to respond to. It was both, if not the entire club, to blame for it, but after all, the idea was originally hers. Got damn. She wondered how harsh the punishment would be for breaking the rules like that. Maybe she could be the scapegoat.

It's not like she wanted to do it for real, but Veronica knew Catherine. The feline-featured girl couldn't bear the shame and humiliation before she broke down, and with it, she would probably end up giving away the entire club. Sending her to assume everything would help nothing. Besides that, it was possible that after using it to try to save her skin, their friendship would be ruined and everyone who knew about it would have an unflattering conception of her anyways.

Veronica was against the sword or the wall.

And well, her choice was made from the beginning.

"I was joking." She forced a light laugh before continuing. “If something happens, I will take responsibility for everything. We need there to be a drawing club if we want to win that contest after all. "

She had to think long term, right? Punishments might spoil her perfect behavioural record, but a person's gratitude could help her through the worst of times. And on the other hand, that was what the _leaders_ had to do. Veronica could swear that she would lose her dignity if she couldn't deal with the consequences of her stupid actions.

"Oh! Veronica, I— "The girl muttered before wrapping her arms around her tightly. "You are so good." She managed to hear between the sobbing and unintelligible gasps that the other girl gave as she hid in her chest.

No, I am not. Sorry, Catherine. I am a very bad person.

She fought so that a sob didn't come out of her throat and she could stay calm while the other finished venting her emotions. It was neither the time nor the right place. With her glasses almost misty from the tears she failed to hold back, she looked over the other's head and into the room. The expensive materials and eraser papers from the comic they were making were scattered all over the place, but still, they created the perfect place that she had desired. In the end she met her goal, Veronica thought with a bittersweet feeling that would settle in her heart for the hours that remained until she faced that guy Mattholomule.

She wished she didn't have to put everything she said into practice.

* * *

“... It will be your word against mine. I have proofs, what do you have? "

The words that Mattholomule said were repeated like a recording in her mind as Veronica walked out of school. She felt beside herself, her body was frozen with fear and a tingling under her skin that she identified as her own anxiety was making her feel worse. It also didn't help that Catherine and the entire drawing club had seen her as a martyr after hearing about everything that happened, which put everyone's weight on her shoulders.

She shouldn't have been wrong at any time, she knew. And even so, she had somehow screwed up even more.

She couldn't focus on anything else, and she was in every class she had after facing the boy like that. School hours were over, and Veronica still couldn't get out of her stupor.

Blackmailed by a boy younger than her. Wow.

Veronica continued to have completely new experiences every day.

She had underestimated him. But how could he have known that Mattholomule cared more about drama than any other benefit she could offer him? And it hadn't helped that he had taken it out on the boy —Well... That had been fun and she wasn't sorry about it.— And had ruined any chances she'd had before.

She should assimilate it even if she didn't want to, Veronica knew perfectly well. Anxiety would be useless and she had to swallow the bitter truth pill before being with Emira and Edric and acting like nothing was wrong again, because she didn't want to involve anyone in such matters. It would be great, of course. Have a shoulder to lean on after your fiasco. However, it would be quite selfish to involve them in things that they probably didn't want.

And being friends didn't mean that they would help her escape the consequences of it, even if that had been one of the main reasons she wanted to connect with them.

Veronica didn't want to disturb them when they had their own things to do. She already knew first-hand how annoying that was and she would definitely feel worse if the small probability of both twins treating her the way she had treated others became real. Words meant to make her feel like her problem wasn't important would stick like needles around her soul if that happened. The contempt inflicted by people she cared about would help make her weak and fearful of everything again, and she didn't want to be that way again.

Not when she had come so far.

She must learn to deal with her affairs once and for all, even if it meant being on the brink of one of the most embarrassing and _disappointing_ events of her life. Maybe she could avoid arrest if she was clever enough, she thought with some hope. If she could get a little luck. _Luck._

That's it! Veronica thought. She had to buy an instant luck potion from a reputable store to save herself from this mess. It would take luck so that she could try to do something. For the plan she would create to deal with whatever might happen tomorrow to work. A compelling facade that didn't involve the drawing club as much but also didn't make the things it did worse than they were.

She definitely thought better when she calmed down, Veronica sighed shakily as she hurried her pace out of the building.

"Hey!" Veronica was startled and turned to see who was calling her. The two characteristic green hairs appeared in front of her as Edric raised his hand. "We have been calling you for a while, what were you thinking?"

"Did something bad happen?" Emira approached with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. There was a hint of concern in her tone, as if she knew something was wrong with her.

There was something wrong, yes, she wanted to answer. Everything happened, Veronica felt with some helplessness without knowing why she was doing it.

She didn't say any of that, of course. Because she might have been misunderstanding Emira’s expression and als _o because nothing was happening._

In her life, nothing had ever happened and that wouldn't change right now.

It was just a setback, a slight delay in her goals. Nothing important enough to annoy her friends.

"You could say that." The black-haired girl shrugged her shoulders before avoiding her gaze and smiling happily. "But it's nothing to worry about."

"Oh ..." The other girl replied with an indecipherable expression. Veronica didn't know why, but she felt that Emira had a tone… hurt, in some way.

She couldn't analyse it anymore when Edric continued talking about what they were going to do. “Are you ready to see the best spells you've ever seen?” The boy smiled. "We have been practicing them quite a bit."

"We wanted to invite Gwendolyn too, but she had other things to do." Emira continued as nothing had happened before. Well, she might saw something wrong, Veronica convinced herself.

"Oh, the red-haired girl in our class, right?" Veronica asked them before giggling a bit. "She is named as my pet."

"Your pet is named as a real person." Emira scoffed and she had to agree to that. Her sister hadn't been the most creative in naming.

"Yeah, I know." Veronica agreed while snorting. “My sister named them after her friends. Although I'd always been asking myself if there really someone is named Oblivia in Bonesborough. Such a weird name."

"I think that name doesn't exist, don't you think, Em?" Edric asked curiously and seeing how both siblings began to engage in a conversation about it, Veronica disconnected from reality from that moment on.

* * *

"—You two are going to detention for the whole week."

Oh, she realized she was too calm in a situation like this. Veronica barely understood what had happened since the afternoon of the previous day, feeling everything like a confusing and weird dream that somehow she knew to be true. Her unhealthy coping mechanisms had kicked in, she guessed, unsure whether to feel grateful or worried about it.

Probably none, she sighed wearily as she continued to follow the guards into the detention room that had just been restored again.

At least she had managed to come up with a good plan to take down Mattholomule along with her.

And looking sideways at the other's somewhat terrified expression, it was definitely something he wasn't going to enjoy. Not for nothing had she made many excuses in front of the director to avoid being taken with her. The boy gave up after a few minutes, not before without giving her a hateful look, but the kinky amusement —along with the fear, because darn, _she'd never been in detention_ — that emerged at that moment was still seated inside her.

Veronica ignored that to continue walking behind the guards until she saw a huge door closer and closer. It could be worse, she told herself bored inwardly before she realized anything.

Her friends would probably notice her absence if the clone she left to replace her didn't behave as she normally did, or if for some reason they decided to grab it too hard.

Suddenly… she felt a bit of shame and fear. Veronica hadn't said anything to anyone, although a part of her had wanted it. She should trust her friends more, a voice within her said mockingly. Weren't they supposed to be helpful during difficult times? Why did she always behave like that?

They would have helped her with everything, right?

Veronica wasn't sure about it.

That's because even if she considers them her friends, she may not be their friend, the part of her that she hated the most said it as if it was fact. How are you so sure they don't speak to you just out of pity? was the well-known and terrifying question that invaded her mind. The doubts that she had managed to contain for years overflowed like water would from a cracked glass. With cracks that had formed throughout her life but somehow, she had chosen to ignore.

Maybe… maybe she should just keep ignoring them for a while longer. This was not the right time or place to panic. Veronica had an image to maintain in front of that brat from Constructions.

Her footsteps paused for a moment as she tried to calm herself before the hook around her waist pulled her inside the door. She hissed in surprise and some pain at her body hitting the ground, ignoring how the other also fell with a dry sound.

She turned to see the door, which was completely closed. Great. Caught in detention with the asshole who had caused it all and barely holding back a panic attack. There were only two options: attack Mattholomule because why not? —And to show that he shouldn't try to confront her from now on— or try to hide somewhere before something happened.

Veronica quickly glanced around the place before her gaze fell on the other boy, who was hiding behind a large rock that had claw marks. Mattholomule even had the audacity to grin at her before the floor shook and a hole full of teeth, tentacles and skeletons opened right there. One that didn't suggest anything good.

Well, she had to do something quick.

And what better than to make more clones and remove the boy from the place that would help keep him hidden from whatever came out of there?

"Hey! You can't do this to me!" The boy screamed trying to get out of the arms of two clones she had created.

They were consuming quite a bit of her magic, but she needed to keep him away from her and from the panic in her voice, it seemed like she was also doing a good job of showing him a lesson. She felt a little weird from the guilt and adrenaline rushing through her veins, but she tried to enjoy showing him who was the boss.

It didn't work that well. Veronica giggled a little nervously. “Watch me do it. Idio—”

The abrupt hissing sound of something coming out of the pit interrupted her, causing her to cringe in fear and glance sideways as her clones were being led away —somehow they hadn't disappeared yet, oh wait, they did. Hell, Veronica had thought she was getting better at it— and the other boy.

She felt what little magic she had flow in her body and cause a tingle that made her skin crawl. She mentally prayed that her magic bile sac would start to produce more at that moment because she was going to do everything possible so that those monsters wouldn't find her.

Hopefully her stupid survival instincts didn't knock her out first.

The air came out of her lungs in a silent gasp as she tried to focus on the spell she must cast. Her only chance that that creature didn't catch her. Veronica concentrated before her finger created a magic circle and an invisible barrier appeared covering her.

Perfect, do a spell that you were just being taught to protect yourself in a risky situation, Veronica congratulated herself. She really got over herself every day.

Experience was what it was worth, after all, she thought, trying to hold back a giggle. Her body felt frozen with fear and how could she not? She was in a situation that she had always avoided at all costs. Which was somewhat ironic, considering that she wasn't troublesome.

Damn, she was completely screwed up.

Maybe she should have left Cath alone to deal with the problem. Or she would have created one of her clones to take her place while she skipped school. What the hell was he thinking of going personally when he was studying illusions? She was so—

Oh wait.

Her illusion of invisibility wasn't going to last long if she still kept the clone she had left behind. Especially when she was so terrified, for the Titan. Veronica sighed slowly silently, her heart beating a thousand a second and cold sweat forming on her forehead.

What should she do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... hey guys I'm here again.
> 
> I was very occupied last months doing some stuff and well... Covid-19 laso didn't leave me alone :((. Dudes, please be careful with that virus, its dangerous af.
> 
> Anyways, this and the next chapter will be the last chapters of Veronica part. After it, I will start with Emira's pov and how everything gets solved (not really but I hope u can understand what I mean x'd) in some way.
> 
> Leave your kudos and comment if you like this! 〔´∇ ｀〕


	7. Veronica's breakdown and how everything gets solved in some way... or not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her best friend always said that the sky would hurt the moment it fell on her. And Veronica knew it. She knew perfectly well.
> 
> But... did life really hate her that much?
> 
> Now, with Eduard Payne wanting to get the most out of her, some feelings that would turn chaotic, and an unexpected enemy, she will have to prove that she could overcome anything that got in her way.
> 
> However, it was such a shame that Veronica had gotten tired of trying already.
> 
> Part 2.

The strange and monotonous clinical tone of Veronica's voice was lost as it faded into thin air.

_Literally._

Wait, what just happened?

"Vera?" Calixto blinked in confusion at what had just happened before frowning and looking around the place suspiciously.

The classroom was as empty as anyone would expect when classes hadn't started yet, but they were both supposed to be there, studying. The books and notebooks were still neatly placed in the folder —which really wasn't that important, because if her friend took everything as a joke…— but there was no sign of the black-haired girl. Neither one of them is supposed to be… mysteriously disappearing.

_As if by magic._

A wild idea passed between her thoughts and Calixto began to play with one of her loose strands nervously. If that was correct, maybe the one she was with wasn't even Veronica, but a clone of her. Which would justify why she was behaving so muffled and automatic after going to the bathroom, as if she weren't alive.

Veronica should start creating clones that behave more complexly if she wants to fool me, Calixto thought as she invoked her scroll. It was time to find out where the real Veronica was.

_@Calix_smile_

Hey, where are u? :b 

Btw, why did u do that?

Dude

Answer me

I know u left a clone with me >:’((

Heyy

Vera

Is3t I’m not mad, just

where ru???

class will start soon

R u alivr?

alive*

Veronica

Well, Calixto made a grimace. The other girl didn't reply to any of her messages, possibly knowingly ignoring her or too busy doing something she hadn't realized about. It had happened several times to leave it as a common incident.

However... Veronica had never used any clone to fool anyone. Or at least not have them impersonate her in something that she had always been willing to do like study and be with her friends. If not, her best friend would have been wasting her time every year instead of being present in classes with her and the others. Until now.

What was happening?

She swallowed her saliva, nervousness and confusion invading her as she looked at her scroll. There was still no answer.

Ug, Veronica, you always make me take drastic measures, Calixto complained internally as her fingers began to type in another chat.

Some old busy witches :(( (I wanna be a child again)

_@Calix_smile_

Hey, u guys know where is @VeRy_calm??

_@GlossNGoss_

No, whyy?

btw, all of us r in class u know

_@J3ssG_

just 1 way 2 now where @VeRy_calm is

spam her :))

_@Calix_smile_

Already did so

She’s nowhere :((

_@EricSchenns_

lol

Wasn’t she with u

_@Calix_smile_

Yeah, but she disappeared

_@GlossNGoss_

:0?

_@J3ssG_

w e i r d

_@EricSchenns_

wait how

_@Calix_smile_

She left a clone

N it suddenly was gone

_@J3ssG_

so rude

Shes w her new friends, Im sure about it

_@GlossNGoss_

Jess >:((

Or she was kidnapped¿

_@Eric Schenns_

girls, ur imagination is so weird

maybe she was eaten by a monster and it replaced her long time ago

_@J3ssG_

that’s c u r s e d

but not impossibl

e

_@Calix_smile_

nO

It was her clone, i know how 2 recognize it

And don’t be like that, this is serious :b

just, helpp

_@GlossNGoss_

I’ll try 2 ask ppl bout it

just wait a bit

_@Calix_smile_

U know

Doing the same

_@J3ssG_

Don’t forget to tell us the results ;;

I’ll be a good student n pay attention 2 class :))

see u later

_@EricSchenns_

how

talking nonsense w chris’

@Calix_smile

...

Pay attention 2 ur classes or help me >:(

Calixto closed her scroll with a tired sigh. Her friend wasn't with the guys, which left many fewer options. Where should I look for Veronica?

No. She should rephrase the question.

_Who could know her whereabouts?_

She hummed absently as she put all the things on the desk into her backpack. Marianne had almost half the student population as contacts, but she didn't really think any of them knew anything about the black-haired girl's whereabouts. It's not like Veronica trusted a lot of people to know about anything.

In fact, they might not even be able to find her if Veronica didn't want to.

Darn, Calixto cursed inwardly before forcing herself to start the train of thought again. In a much more positive and productive way than before.

She knew Veronica must be in school, she acted pretty normal —okay, a little weird, but not _so_ weird that she meddled in her affairs and made her feel worse— until before first period. She went to the bathroom and a clone came back.

That will have happened like this for almost two hours, Calixto thought, frowning.

From there, where has it gone?

Hmm ... Veronica wasn't particularly willing to study more than enough, and she wasn't the type to skip classes for nothing, unless someone pushed her too hard— maybe…. Wait. The only thing that seemed to interest her the most were her extracurricular activities.

Now, debate or drawing?

Veronica should be with someone from the drawing club because she couldn't possibly be with the debating club. Aside from the fact that most of them were busy enough to do something, Veronica had complained too much about how an idiot Payne was for her to go do something for him. And it's not like she cares much about that club anyway.

So, I should go to the drawing club, Calixto thought, putting the backpack on her shoulder and starting to walk quickly. She wasn't sure where that club room was, but there should be someone who belonged to it somewhere. Someone who knew...

Oh, that's right. She knew someone who fit that profile, Calixto thought, invoking her scroll again.

She was going to find that idiot that was her best friend.

* * *

"—What?" Disbelief permeated her voice as Calixto frowned.

The girl with feline features sighed with something like discomfort and boredom before repeating it again. "That a boy tried to blackmail us and Veronica went to settle the matter with him."

Well, she had already understood the situation, but _still_.

"Wait, wait." She rubbed her hands over her face. "Are you telling me that Vera is in detention or in a fight?"

"No idea." Catherine shrugged her shoulders with a nervous expression as she avoided her gaze. Calixto hated that. "I already told you, she said she would take care of everything regarding the incident."

"Catherine—!" She exclaimed before trying to speak more calmly. “You guys should have done something, you know? How to help her or... something. "

"She didn't say anything to us today, and it's not like she's asking us for help with anything." The other girl excused herself with her lips sticking together in a straight line. "You know, she's so elusive and lonely when she's not in the mood that we didn't even try this time."

"Oh, _for the love of the Titan_." Calixto exhaled. "You are her friends!"

The echo of her voice echoed down the hall and she felt a little chilled at the scandal she was making. Even so, she kept her posture straight, trying not to back down. Although arguing like this would get her nowhere, Calixto had to admit with some embarrassment that he was simply venting her frustration a bit.

Besides, she already knew where Veronica was, she just had to find a suitable way to help her—

"Well guess what, you are her friend too!" Catherine hissed even louder, her face creasing into a fierce expression. "How the hell did you not realize there was something wrong from the beginning?!"

They were both silent until Calixto snorted rolling her eyes.

“At least I'm trying to do something now that I know he's in trouble. _Not as—_ "

"Oh, girls." A curious and somewhat amused voice got into the discussion she was having. "Why are you arguing in the middle of the hall?"

Calixto frowned and breathed to see who it had appeared to. As she turned around, her anger only increased because there was the last person she wanted to see at that moment.

"Nothing that is important to you, Blight." Calixto restrained herself from spitting out the green-haired surname as if it was a curse.

Although maybe it was. After all, Veronica had become too brave for her own good after spending time with her and her brother. It had been great before because it was making her more proactive, Calixto knew it, but now she had gotten into a lot of trouble, it wasn't so good.

Especially since her friend jumped to the action without even thinking a bit.

What good was the advice that Veronica herself had given her earlier when she wasn't putting it into practice? Why did she stop using the caution and prudence that she boasted so much about in such a… unpredictable situation?

Calixto didn't know, but it seemed to be due to the Blights. And he didn't doubt her instincts, after all, their reputation preceded them.

Prodigies that couldn't be compared to, but just the same, spoiled, and rowdy teens who—

"I still want to know." Emira Blight replied with a soft laugh, her golden eyes showing a glint that Calixto couldn't identify.

—Who had never experienced the consequences of their actions.

Her shoulders stiffened at the statement and Catherine looked the same, her nose wrinkled and her cat ears prickled. “It's just a matter between me and her. We are about to do something about it. " She said without knowing how much the greenhead had heard.

Before her eyebrows raised in something like disbelief, Calixto knew that Emira Blight had simply interrupted them because she knew exactly what they were talking about. Great, that was just amazing, she thought, holding back the urge to groan in frustration and leave the girls there.

Which she was going to do, until she realized that Catherine had thought exactly the same thing.

"I'll go now, O'Mille." The dry tone the girl used before walking in the opposite direction didn't go unnoticed. "And I'll try to do something about it."

Her gaze didn't leave her until she turned a corner. Calixto bit the inside of her lip uneasily. Would Catherine really do something about it? How would you make a successful plan to help their friend?

Should they really get more involved in that? It's not liked the detention room is a place to kill people —at least not now that Hexside was a school— but walking in there to get someone who deserved their punishment was pretty irresponsible, foolish, and rebellious.

Why did breaking the rules feel like the right thing to do if it was for friends? Calixto sighed inwardly before paying attention to what the Blight was saying.

"—So, have you seen Vera?"

Wait, how could they avoid getting into more trouble?

The only way to do it—

Calixto swallowed her pride as she sighed to give herself patience before doing something unthinkable, but necessary. If there was anyone who could get away with it, then she was in front of her.

"Actually, there is something that happened ..."

* * *

Veronica had adapted to everything that was happening with surprising ease.

Amazing and _exceptional_.

However, the racing of her heart and the adrenaline rushing through her veins kept her from concentrating on pretending she was completely fine.

Veronica nibbled on the knuckle of her thumb anxiously as she squeezed her eyes shut. Another unsuccessful attempt to shake off her possible emotional breakdown. If she couldn't lock her emotions and feelings to the back of her mind like she always had, she didn't know what she would do.

It was kind of maddening because even though she knew she shouldn't try to fool herself —it was so unhealthy for her sanity, damn— all she wanted was to stay normal. Knowing that the reason she hadn't moved an inch was her fear and ineptitude.

Because really ... she must had done something.

There were long enough intervals between when new students arrived and the hole reopened to try to escape. It's not like there is someone guarding outside, she had realized earlier.

Still, _she was not able to leave_.

Coward, her mind whispered scornfully and Veronica agreed. She was just a stupid girl who couldn't even save her own skin despite having everything at her fingertips. She was choking on a glass of water and knowing it was so embarrassing that she wanted to die.

She couldn't do anything for herself. What the hell was he thinking trying to help Catherine?

She was stupid, too stupid.

Insufficient.

Naive.

It was the consequence of being protected from the strange and dangerous things that happened in Bonesborough, Veronica tried to make herself feel better without success. She sobbed a little. Even if it was true, she was no longer a dumb kid, why the hell couldn't she be as trusting and easy-going like everyone else?

Weak. Useless. A burden for all.

The silence that enveloped the entire place was suffocating and the cold rough surface of the stone that supported her back made her feel trapped. It's not like she wasn't, but the choking sensation she felt and the relentless thoughts she was having were unbearable. Too unbearable.

Maybe it would be better to let herself be captured by whatever inhabited that room to stop thinking, Veronica bit her lip.

She needed something to support the long period of time that was missing.

Veronica wouldn't care if that damn monster that had drained her magic several months ago suddenly appeared or if she simply decided to stop fighting with herself and let her be carried into the hole. All she wanted was to numb her mind to forget all about his weak and inept self.

Being unconscious seemed like an image out of her wishes.

It would be _so easy_ to sleep for a long time and wake up after she found some way to feel good about herself. It wouldn't matter if it was discovering some magical and powerful talent she had, or if it was simply a boost in her self-esteem that allowed her to control her greed for success and be satisfied with the abilities she possessed.

She had too many dreams that shouldn't belong to someone as ordinary and powerless as her.

It would be great to get rid of that and be able to enjoy her monotonous life. Be someone else of the bunch but without losing her individuality.

Make the meaning of Veronica stop being 'the one who brings victory' and become 'true image'. Completely detach herself from her longing to be the best and become someone who could be true to everyone, and especially herself, because darn, she really needed it.

Feel free and genuine, and stop holding that false confidence that just—

“—I don't think she's here. Are you sure she's not, uhm, doing something else? " A clear and surprisingly familiar voice rang out, causing a chill to run down her spine.

Good. Okay. Calm down and keep wallowing in your misery, Veronica tried to relax because the one who had come there was only Emira —who could obviously enter _that place_ and go wherever she wanted— looking for… someone?

Weird was the only word to describe that situation. She had never thought that of all the people, the green haired one would be interested in doing something like that. It must be something important or entertaining enough to do, Veronica thought, feeling quite curious and, surprisingly, a little jealousy.

What the hell? She wondered inwardly as her heart began to beat rapidly. She felt the blood rise to her cheeks with shame and some contempt. Her treacherous feelings were disgusting. Thinking about that kind of thing and stopping focusing on the big picture of things. And there was also the fact that she wanted to know who Emira was referring to. Viney? Gwendolyn, maybe?

Ug, stop, she forced herself to stop in agonizing annoyance. Couldn't she just stop teasing her friends for just one time?

"We've known each other since childhood, I know she's here." Another voice said bluntly and Veronica stiffened, as if ice water had spilled on her.

What the hell?, was the only thought in her head before she tried to shrink further. She felt a bit of flattery in that sea of unwarranted fear that formed in her.

However, she didn't take it as important as she should.

Even if they were looking for her, like that apparently was reason enough for them to get along, it was strange.

Calixto, her best friend, and the girl who had said she hated shameless troublemakers like the Blights, was now next to Emira. Wow. It could well be the event of the century, Veronica scoffed silently.

"If you say so." She heard Emira say after a few seconds of silence. "I thought she would have sent that boy flying, you know, she's pretty badass."

The girl finished with a laugh —which was simply _melodious_ — before Calixto hummed, neither for nor against. Veronica knew her best friend was particularly irritated with it but nothing about it. She was even more flattered, feeling that maybe it wasn't as irritating as it felt.

Wait ... Ug, whatever. Veronica wanted to be alone, why the hell should she care if her best friend and possible crush were looking for her?

She wished they gave up fast.

* * *

"There doesn't seem to be anyone here." Her best friend murmured before sighing wearily. Veronica bit her lip uncertainly, wondering whether to stay there or just get out.

Although it was too late anyway. Showing herself in front of Calixto in such a way would likely increase her possible anger just like a mother whose children end up taking a minute to arrive early. In any case, if mistakes are made, they must be done well.

Those ideas she had learned since she has been little made her more reluctant to come out of hiding.

Emira sighed. "It must be inside _that dig_."

"Hm?" Calixto hummed in a neutral tone. "Have you been here?"

"A couple of times after Mittens meddled in my affairs." Emira said and Veronica imagined how she shrugged her shoulders before continuing to pay attention. “When you enter here a hole opens in the ground where people are kept in capsules. There they are hypnotized so that they learn to be good students, or something. "

Both girls were silent for a few seconds. "I don't know what I expected from Hexside in this regard." Her best friend snorted, possibly hiding her face in her hands. "Maybe it's there though."

Veronica frowned. Was that place they were talking about, was it referring to the possible hiding places within the detention room or—

The footsteps of both girls were heard so close to where she was that she freaked out, too hyper-aware of her surroundings, before putting more and more power into her spell. Her face grew hotter with the effort and sweat was beginning to form on her temple.

It can't be, she thought. The threat of her own weakness caused her to become more stubborn, starting a tug-and-pull cycle between her resistance and the strange alert of lack of magic she felt. The desire to stop attacked harder as she felt her chest clench, but she didn't. She couldn't.

Veronica really couldn't. How could she be completely weak, in a state that was so different from when she let some bits of her feelings and emotions surface in front of others?

She couldn't do it in front of her best friend. And neither in front of Emira.

She was too cowardly for that.

"I don't think so." Emira refused before laughing a bit. “She must have gone. It's like, super easy to get out of here. "

Calixto was heard snorting with contempt and well, Veronica knew why. The girl with braids knew her well enough to know that it wouldn't be possible and she wasn't exactly wrong.

“Well, she wouldn't miss classes either. She never has in spite of everything. And no one outside has told me if they found her.” Calixto spoke with considerable emphasis before walking at a brisk pace. "Then, I'm going to check the place."

Oh, _for the Titan_ , Veronica squeezed her eyes shut.

That would be a complete disaster.

"It's going to be quite dangerous if we just try to do it—" Emira began to speak quickly before the thunder of the ground opening interrupted her. "Oh." She said before giggling and apparently walking.

Adrenaline pumped through her body. What was happening sounded… too loud. Like a combination of attack spells, slime being crushed, and nasty squeaks.

_Totally dangerous._

Her whole being cried out that she should get out of where she was. Help her friend and get serious about the fact that she wanted to change. So that it wouldn't only remain in empty words and to stop fooling herself and pretending to be her own victim.

To stop her stupid self-pity that was just holding her in place.

With that thought, Veronica wiped her face, stopped her spell, and jumped straight into the hole. "For the titan, Calixto." She exclaimed, trying to ignore the disgusting sticky sound her boots made when they hit the ground before approaching the other. "You're fine?"

"What the hell, Veronica?" Calixto sounded completely irritated and annoyed as she cast a spell to prevent those demons from getting any closer, making her remind Veronica why the hell she hadn't wanted to come out. "Geez, this place is disgusting." The one with braids complained without looking at the other's anxious face.

"So indeed you were here." Emira gestured in surprise and amusement after casting a sleeping spell against everyone other than her and Calixto. "Are you playing hide and seek or something?"

"I—"

"Look, it doesn't matter." Her best friend interrupted crossing her arms. "If we get out of here quickly, we can still get to class."

"Uhh, it's okay." Veronica stammered as she lowered her gaze and tried to hold the moisture in her eyes.

The few minutes it took to get out were the tensest in her entire life. Aside from the fact that it was just plain awkward to walk alongside both girls, the fact that they came out the normal door and not the secret one made her feel nervous and paranoid.

Perhaps the only positive side of having left that place was that she could at least move freely without being afraid of ending up trapped. Although knowing Bonesborough and all the things that exist throughout the Boiling Isles, you really wouldn't be surprised if there was something more dangerous within Hexside.

"Are you okay, right?" Her best friend asked snapping her out of her thoughts.

Veronica stopped walking for a second before giggling nervously. "I'm not hurt, I'm obviously fine."

"If you say so, dude." Calixto sighed before rolling her eyes, seemingly calmer. "You can always tell me anything, even if it is of this type, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. This was an exception. " Veronica fought to keep the blood from rushing to her face in shame. She stretched her arms out a bit before downplaying the matter as she normally did. "I thought I could deal with it on my own and well, I bit off more than I could chew."

Perfect. _The habit of minimizing her emotions and feelings came to the fore_.

"Okay." Calixto nodded absently before continuing to speak in a not so oddly soft tone, ignoring the mess Veronica had on her mind. "I'm carrying some of your notebooks in my backpack, but you have to go to the lockers to get your other things for class."

Veronica hummed in agreement, not in the mood to keep talking. She walked more and more at a slow pace, trying to separate herself from her best friend in case her emotions became uncontrollable again.

"Are you really okay?"

Oh, she had forgotten about Emira.

She glanced to her right, seeing how the other seemed to have a strange seriousness that she had never seen in her. Was Emira angry? She cleared her throat awkwardly, feeling some heat on her cheeks and momentarily forgetting the tears that had wanted to come out of the corner of her eyes.

"I feel like an idiot, but that's pretty normal." She laughed before moving his fingers nervously and saying sincerely. "I really should have done something else to avoid all this, but you know, you learn from mistakes, right?"

_Except she never seemed to learn_ , she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. What a shame.

Suddenly, they both heard how Calixto exclaimed. "Come on, Vera, hurry up." She emphasized with an almost irritated tone. "I know we'll be able to be in class."

"Okey, okey." She sighed.

Now that Veronica thought about it, they met almost no one during their entire journey. It couldn't be, they were really late for class. Containing all her anxiety, she continued walking at a slow pace with Emira because, well, there was no use getting anxious for nothing, right?

And she didn't want to face her best friend's anger, even if she was far better than her at containing and regulating her emotions. Ha ha, just for that ...

"Hey." Her chaotic thoughts stopped when Emira murmured after a few seconds of silence, looking at her with a smile and a weird expression on her face. "I would have done the same for my friends."

"... Oh." Veronica replied in confusion, giving her a smile in return. That phrase… was she serious or was she just trying not to embarrass her more than she was?

Veronica tried awkwardly to change the subject with the first thing that crossed her mind. "Anyway, won't you come to class?"

_Oh, by the titan_. Are you stupid, Veronica Ryder? She wondered, wanting to slam her head against a wall.

"Maybe I will." Emira laughed softly. "After all, you'll be there, sweetie."

Veronica felt her face burn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth is that I was going to put Emira with a very low EQ, since there would be no timeskip and in theory, she would continue to have her attitude so... ‘I don’t cara abt u or ur feelings.’ However, I decided that if Veronica was somehow drawn to that, it would be like, very toxic.
> 
> I don't want to deal with more psychological trauma and for me it would end super fluff, but since I love torturing myself, I will continue with angst and psychoanalysis :)). This is the end of part 1, that is the Veronica part, now only part 2 with Emira and the epilogue are missing.
> 
> This chapter, now that I think about it, is pretty much like 'you won the battle, but not the war'. U know, fears and insecurities are going to cause worse situations. So this is just the tip of the iceberg.
> 
> We'll see how Emira will react to that.
> 
> Prepare to suffer, I will go with everything ;;.
> 
> PS: The ending seems abrupt, but really ... I consider it normal, u know. I'm not much into human drama and since they are teenagers, they are not going to confront someone directly, obviously.
> 
> Most of the whole plot is based on how the characters react and feel about everyday things (there in Bonesborough bc if it was the real world, well…) so there isn't much scandal.
> 
> Crises serve to know what is good and what is bad in something in order to separate it and keep the new.
> 
> I heard that in my etymology class ;;


End file.
